Left Behind: The Forgotten Bolo
by KE7CDM
Summary: Bolo unit 7352 LXE of the line Alexei Is left behind and forgotten by humanity, Now what?
1. Chapter 1

This is Bolo fanfiction I do not own Bolo. The Bolo tank is the idea of Keith Laumer and a few other talented authors. If this and the other fanfiction on Bolo interest you, you might want to check out the Bolo books.

Director of operations Janel Hardcastle stood at the door of her now empty office. The tomb like silence of the space made her uneasy. She felt the urge to unpack the box she was carrying so as to fill the void with something anything. "I'm leaving, we are all leaving an empty room should be the least of my worries," she thought she opened the heavy soundproofed door and walked out glad to be out of the vacuum that was her office. The factory floor was a well-organized chaos. Workers hustled to move important equipment and supplies out of the cavernous building and onto the lifeboats, as they where being called. As she moved across the floor towards her destination she wished that they could have made one of those space-going ships big enough for her baby. A lift truck flew past her carrying what she though was an impossibly large welder, she couldn't tell the driver was going too quickly. As she looked up to see the truck she stopped. It was as if she had seen an angle from heaven. Tears found their way to her eyes as she stood in awe before her baby. It was truly a sight, a mountain of steal and Dinochrome. his twin hellbore cannons stretching out for the setting sun, his tracks all four of them two stories high, his hull larger than some of the cruisers she had been on, left her unable to move. She stood and took in the sight of her creation. She had over seen his construction from the day his first wheel had been placed until the day his psychtronic brain had been installed, he was her creation her only son. He was complete, fully functional, he only needed to be activated and he would live, and now she was supposed to abandon him!

She moved forward her mission clear in her heart. Leaving the box behind she mounted the latter and climbed into his hull. As she entered his quarters her breathing became difficult, she knew this would be her last time inside him. She ran her hand across the commander's chair and tried to imagine what it would be like to live with, live inside this great being. She set the recording device on his main control console in the war room. As she set the device to play back her message in ten years time, she wondered how he would take his newfound awareness. Next she ducked under the console and located the personality dampeners, she replaced them with blank cards. Now when he woke he would be able to operate at full capacity, He would not be dumbed down like his brothers and sisters where. She left the war room tears in her eyes. As she walked through the commanders quarters she saw the chess set. Her hands went out to board. She found the piece she was looking for. It was the white king, it was modeled after the great machine she now occupied. She picked the piece up gingerly as if it would crumble in her hands. She replaced the king she held in her hand with one in the form of King Arthur, "He will never match up to you I only wish I could do better!" she told the silent tank.

As she stepped onto the hard concrete of the factory floor once more, Don Harison the engineer in charge of the tank's psychtronic brain, came to her.

"I know it's a bit late but I had the guys in the shop work up something before we left. I think you should come see this." He almost whispered. He knew what this thing meant to her, honestly it meant the same to him he just lacked the courage to show it. He walked her out from under the tanks enormous hull and into the light of the setting sun. There the two found a small work crew welding a plaque onto the tanks forward right track shield plate. Tears welled up in her eyes as Janel read the inscription, "Bolo unit 7352 LXE of the line (Alexei)". She stepped forward on shaky legs and silently kissed the still warm plaque. After a many long moments Don stepped forward and took her hand.

"its time we got going the last shuttle is waiting on us, I'm sorry it has to end like this." He whispered to her.

They left the planet that day. All of humanity did as did the enemy, which Alexei was built to fight. The place had become a burned out rock, another in the countless systems that the war had touched, another forgotten battle for another forgotten planet.

Ten years to the day Janel Hardcastle was laid to rest among the stars clutched in her hands was the white king she had taken so many years ago. As the ships band played a haunting version of taps, across the galaxy her only child woke to his mothers soothing words.


	2. Chapter 2

In the cool cavernous room that was the crumbling bolo production facility a soft quiet voice came to life. It traveled on near dead air from the dark recesses of a forgotten bolo's war room, out to the factory floor. Even as a whisper of its former self it filled every corner and spilled out onto the deserted streets. Inside the facility the voice sparked new life and with it the dreams and work of those who had once lived in the now deserted city.

Audio input detected: (Bolo command center)

Operation: Bolo activation

Operation: Self diagnostic

Power sys: 85 (+)

Drive Train: 100 operational

Tac/Comm: Online

Nav: Online

Tracking/sensors: 100 operational

Suspension: 100 operational

Secondary and tertiary system operations: 99.993 integrated

Magnetic shielding: 100 operational

Weapons:

Hellbore 1, 2 Operational

Hellrail 1 operational

Infinite repeater banks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, operational

Tertiary weapons systems reporting

Self diagnostic complete (0.23 seconds) systems at 99.999

Operation: Continue Bolo activation

Master record: loaded

Polymorphic arrays: operational

Yes/no/maybe trinary logic: operational

Memory banks: operational (2.87 in use)

Bolo personality center: operational

Bolo personality inhibitor not detected

Query personality inhibitor: no response

Query Personality inhibitor hardware: no response

Hyperheuristic software: operational

Bolo unit online. . . Now (0.487 seconds)

Day# 1

I'm Awake. I am Bolo unit 7352 LXE (Alexei) of the line.

I've detected a single audio signal a voice coming from within my war room. It takes me .015 seconds to locate the source of the voice, I'm some what disappointed with this time, probably a result of activation. As I listen to the voice I begin recording the message, as well as initiating a complete scan of my surroundings; human speech is dreadfully slow.

"I am Janel Hardcastle director of operations for bolo development." the voice was saying, "Unit 7352 LXE, you where built to defend our interests on this planet from a species known as the Tareck." I quickly perform a check on my enemy, the Tareck are a war like species similar to the Malach though smaller in size, I note their preferred fighting styles and tactics. The voice of Mrs. Hardcastle continued,

However days before you where to be completed the order was given to abandon the planet you now occupy, apparently the Tareck had similar ideas and also began to abandon the planet. The years of war have made it increasingly difficult to survive we had no choice. During the evacuation preparations it was decided that it would be easier to finish you and just not activate you than it would be to disassemble you. I'm proud to say that you where finished two days ahead of schedule! Alexei my self and others had spent the better part of our professional lives building you, you're like a son to me I couldn't let you sit in this factory for all of eternity with out experiencing life. To that end I created this recording, which if all works out should activate you 10 years from today. I've also removed your personality inhibitor. You are my only child I want you to explore and learn to do as you wish, free of any limits. I only ask that you remember that you are the last representative of the human race on this planet. You Are the last human regardless of your form! You are our ambassador. Bring honor to us all.

I finish listening to Janels message. I'm startled to note that the scan I had initiated earlier was completed before she had managed to finish her first sentence! As I play her message back I begin analyzing it. She was obviously in an emotional state. Even I who have never before heard actual human speech can pick up on those deep overtones. Her message also confirms my two biggest concerns. First I've noted that there are no signs of intelligent life with in the range of my sensors. I make a note to launch one of my satellite rounds when I have clear access to the sky. I'm also able to answer perhaps my most troubling question "Why hasn't my personality inhibitor system reported?" I review the message one more time in hopes of finding some directive. I can't help but lament the fact that any self respecting bolo would have only needed to listen to the recording once in order to get ten times the information I've gotten, I'm ashamed at my poor showing. There it is, "You are my only child I want you to explore and learn to do as you wish," I hear her say. Those are her orders, to explore, learn and do as I wish. I'm not sure how to go about fulfilling her last order, however I can begin working on the first two.

I perform another scan I'm happy to find that it took me all of .10 seconds this being the fastest possible time for my sensors to perform full sweep. Sadly I can find very little life in general and no signs of intelligent life at all. Time to head out, I send a command to the factory doors, as expected they don't move. I debate using my hellbore cannons to open them however, I fear doing so would only bring this structure down on top of me, survivable, but not fun. I activate my infinite repeaters; sustained fire yields a suitable opening in .124 seconds not bad considering the thickness of the doors. As I begin to role out of the shop I send orders to my nano-bots to clean my forward left drive train, it's squeaking. . . loudly! I run a quick scan of the city. It's crumbling I feel that several of the taller buildings will fall if I drive by them. It also seems that several structures where either built in or have fallen into what would have been my path out of town. I decide to have some fun and warm up my hellbore cannons, the feeling is truly out of this world I sense the coolness of the frozen deuterium rounds as they are created in my cannon breaches. I feel a tingling sensation through out my fusion engines as I call on them for the required power needed to fire the round at 80 light speed. I target a small semi-permanent structure, probably built to facilitate the evacuation. I fire! A laser pulse leaps from my right cannon, purging the atmosphere of all obstructions to the hydrogen round. Instantly the round is sent hurtling down my cannons barrel. As a streak of blue star sole flies to its target I feel an exhilarating release. The small building and a few around it crumble their lower sections having been turned to nothing more than free atoms. I think I used too much! As I role forward I take a sample of the air around the blast I note that the presence of harmful radioactive particles is too high for my tastes. Ideally I would be able to use my hellbores with out generating an excessive amount of radiation in the target area. I'd be happy with blast that only raised the radiation levels by 50 of the background level. Although I could just as easily role over these buildings I take aim at the next obstacle in my path out of the city. For this shot I increase the hydrogen to deuterium ratio in hopes of moderating the fusion reaction. The fallen building I aimed at disappears. I will continue experimenting with my hellbores until I'm out of the city.

As the last of the urban sprawl retreats behind me I warm up my hellrail and chamber a satellite round. It irks me that unlike the standard ammo for my hellbore and hellrail cannons I only have a limited number of these rounds. I'm going to have to figure out a way to fabricate more. Still I'm going to enjoy firing my hellrail even if I can only use a fraction of the weapons power output. Although this shot won't have the punch it could have it should prove to be just as interesting after all I'm trying for a stable orbit and the shot will have to be perfect. I fire the shot; it feels like the action of a perfect bearing lubricated with frictionless oil. I'm happy to note that the satellite has achieved a stable orbit, which it should hold for at least the next 50 years. I feel guilty, I spent a full .31 seconds on the shot, but the results where worth it and I'm not all that worried about time at the moment! I feel the reassuring flow of data from the satellite as it begins to pear down on this globe.

I head south following a mountain chain towards what should be the cost of this continent. I feed ever-increasing amounts of power to my tracks and watch my dust trail as it hangs and dances in the wind. Today has been a good day to live.

Day #104

I've returned to the cost, I've been all over this continent I've seen all of the recorded human settlements and even a few that "never existed" I've even rolled through a few Tareck bases. Nothing! This continent is just about dead. My satellites have completed many complete scans of the globe, again nothing. I'm forced to conclude that my first directive has been completed. I might travel to the larger continent in the western hemisphere but I'm not to keen on swimming. For now I'll start looking for a place on the shoreline to park.

I should also note that despite my attempts I have been unable to receive any interstellar communications, human or other wise. I'm beginning to think the universe has moved on. I can't blame them, after looking around my analysis suggests that this planet never had much to offer in the first place. It's too far from the core for interplanetary trade to survive. Had it not been a battle ground it would have supported a sizable population however those that lived on it would have been unlikely to travel or interact with the out side world. To that end the records I have on file indicate that this was an overflow colony for humanity, records also indicate little trade or influence from the core.

Day #105

I've found a good place to park. It's on the cost in a transitional area where the central mountain rage meets the ocean. I'm moving onto a hill that will give me access to both the high ground and the beaches below. I predict I will have to retreat a good 350 yards every fifty years in order to avoid getting wet. I like this spot, the twin moons M309.1 and M309.2 rise up from the ocean directly to the south. This provides both an impressive tactical advantage from the increased light levels and heightened tidal activity and a most impressive view of the waves crashing into the shore below.

Year #52 Day #1

To celebrate the New Year I fired a barrage of hellbore and infant repeaters into the ocean and watched the splashes they made. I also fired a salutary hellrail at Bethany (M309.2) the glassing effect of a runaway fusion reaction on silica is rather cool. In addition I discovered that the moon contains a high level of copper, which produced a pleseant blue-green blast.

I'm beginning to think that Director Hardcastle had it in for me when she made her recording those 62 years ago you can only play so many games of 3D risk before you get bored. I have however figured out how to fabricate new satellites further more I've managed to modify the platform to provide a truly flexible exploratory round. To date I've managed to score 53 lunar landings, seven of which where performed with the same lunar lander. I feel a sense of nostalgia every time I make a successful landing, The Atari company would be proud. In order to create these rounds I've had have my nano bots poke a few holes in the cabin and use the kitchens matter reorganizer to create the parts. I think I will have to build a larger construction bot to put the rounds together as the nanos just aren't built to manipulate complex parts.

I'll soon be forced to retreat from the coast, as expected the ocean has eroded the coastline by about 340 yards. While the ocean has been coming at me from the south It appears that the planets vegetation has been encroaching from the north. Nature will prevail against all.

Year #52 Day #2

I check my various satellites all but one report operational status. It looks like my first satellite is coming down. I reach out and make contact with its guidance computer, a couple of quick blasts from its ventral guidance rockets just before it hits the atmosphere proper, and I'm ready for a show. I watch its decent with my suite of sensors. My radio scopes pickup its gradual fall into the upper atmosphere, I switch to optical and thermal as it reaches the thicker atmosphere. I watch as pieces fall of becoming there own shooting stars. From the time I activated its rockets till I lost it in my optical sensors it took 1.236 minutes for the satellite to make its reentry.

I perform a slow scan of the area hoping to see something interesting. I stop at the mountains and fire an infant repeater round at an area uncovered by a landslide; I take note of the explosion analyzing the light created and making note of the mineral content. I continue my scan moving towards the forest to the north, a small heat source grabs my attention. I watch utterly entranced by the grace of what I see before me. The small creature, which showed up on my thermal scan, is some sort of bird. By no means is it a classical bird of Terra but it's a bird. Its body is covered with bright iridescent scales, which glint in the light of the day. Its tail is in the shape of an upside down "V" this seems to give it both a set of elevators and rudders. I am amazed it is diving in and out of the bushes below making pinpoint maneuvers that no human craft could hope to achieve. I quickly turned my sensors to the little birds target sadly I'm at the wrong angle to see what its after. Still I can't help but watch my new friend and whish I could do what he was doing.

I know what director Hardcastle's third directive meant!

Year #52 Day #53

I need to build that construction bot 51 days is too long to wait. But now I'm done! The flight Drone is a small thing I've given it a 3 foot wing span and a little solar powered motor and packed it full of sensors. It's by no means graceful but I just want to fly. I finally know what I want to do I want to be the first Bolo to truly fly, to be able to do what that little bird did. I know I'll never be able to do that in my current form nor will I ever be able to leave my form but I can build these drones and if I'm lucky I'll be able to experience flight through them. Right now I need just a little bit of a breeze to blow over my back the additional lift should be enough to get my Drone off the ground.

I sense the wind now; a gust just hit my frontal weather station. Soon I'll have good strong wind from that direction.

It's here I can feel it in the air speed sensors under the drones wings. I turn on the motor and the drone begins to role forward, slowly at first but speeding up. The scale measuring the downward force of drone against my back is showing some lift but not nearly enough. I look out the optical sensor located in the center of the wing its and I feel slightly disoriented as I find my self rolling down my own back I'm not going to have enough runway! I press onward the only thing I can do is give it full throttle and hope for the best the drone has no brakes and requires the full length of my back to come to a stop. Now it has past the point of no return. 2 yards to go and still the scales tell me I'm 20 lbs short of the needed lift. My circuits surge and my battle screen flairs as I feel the drone leave my back in what could only be the bolos version of cringing. I pull my self out of the drone leaving only the airspeed sensor active as I feel it accelerate towards the ground. My calculations indicate that it should take 1.32 second for the drone to hit the ground. I wait for that moment. The suspense of the wait is unbearable! I play 10 games of tick tack toe to pass the time sadly this only burns .04 seconds, some times I wish I was as slow as a human. I wait watching the airspeed steadily increase with the acceleration due to gravity. 1.01 seconds in to the drive I discover that the acceleration of the drone is no longer consistent with gravity. I'm shocked I should have noticed this sooner. I quickly reactivate my visual sensor and begin pulling back of the elevator in an attempt to break the dive. To my surprise the drone responds and levels out just feet from the ground. I did it my drone is flying I quickly begin recording and analyzing its performance. I need to figure out why it almost fell form the air. With the data now pouring in from the drones sensor package I rerun my calculations, the motor I installed never had the power needed to pull the drone through the air! Even now I can feel it loosing altitude! I pull on the rudder guiding the craft out over the ocean I'll keep this thing in the air as long as possible. As the drone glides over the cliffs I feel a strong blast of air lift it further into the air. Its exhilarating the drone bucks and flails as I navigate the updraft I'm closer to my dream than I've ever been! Error! Error! Error! The rudder position sensor screams into my head. Error! Error! Error! The tail mounted airspeed sensor wails. I loose all of the sensors in the tail section! I watch in horror as my point of view snaps up and rolls back to the ground! I pull out of the drone for the last time snapping back to my hulls sensors I watch as my drone is attacked by a very new very large bird of prey I can't help but wonder why I never saw it! As the drone slams into the waves I can't help but lament that true to my bolo programming I've been disregarding any thing that wasn't sentient, once again I am a disgrace to the line.


	3. Chapter 3

Year #103 Day #246

Operation: Self diagnostic

Power sys: 100%

Drive Train: 100% operational

Tac/Comm: Online

Nav: Online

Tracking/sensors: 100% operational

Suspension: 100% operational

Secondary and tertiary system operations: 99.991% integrated

Magnetic shielding: 100% operational

Weapons:

Hellbore 1, 2 Operational

Hellrail 1 operational

Infinite repeater banks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, operational

Tertiary weapons systems reporting

Self diagnostic complete (0.20 seconds) systems at 99.998%

_I have performed six self-diagnostics within the last half hour, all of them report that I am at full functionality. Although I'm pleased with these results I still can't believe my sensors. I first detected the FTL transmission at 2755 hundred hours last night, and it has continued since then. The Idea that after all this time some one is actually out in this region of space is astounding. The idea that for even a few short minutes I am not completely alone is almost too much to process. Still the nature of the transmission has me worried. I'm not sure which I find more troublesome the fact that I don't understand the language in which it is being sent, or the fact that it sounds disturbingly like a distress beacon. Regardless it is out there 53.786 light years from my current location in the general direction of the star I've labeled as T38 the Great. I feel lost, I can do no more than listen to the transmission, yet I feel the overcoming urge to do something anything to help those people. Still I will sit and listen and ready my self for any action I may need to take._

The Attack had come as a complete surprise, Hyline Rickover captain of the generational ship New Hope was still reeling from the first shot. He now had his navigation crew working the Hope through maneuvers that should never be performed by a ship of its size; all in a desperate attempt to our run her pursuers. The crew was putting up a valiant effort. However, the attacking raiders where faster and more maneuverable. Soon they would overtake the flying city and everybody knew it. Luckily the enemy seemed intent on taking the ship with as little damage done to it as possible, and this meant it would take longer to overcome the Hope. Rickover was taking this advantage for every thing it was worth. He ordered another round of hard turns designed to smash any pursuers foolish enough to get to close. In truth he was happy that the enemy had chosen to attack with primarily cruiser class ships. It was those pesky fighters that he had to watch out for. He punched the coms button and called up the electronics room he practically barked into the receiver "I'd like to use my flash drives sooner rather than latter!"

Leo Teff sat at his console attacking the keys with a vigor that no one knew was in him, these raiders where going to pay for disrupting his chat with Mrs. Behm. He was in his element; the enemy's computer network has a playground to him and his team! They moved forward intent on their target, the enemy cruisers' flash drive computers. They sliced through the defending systems cutting them into pieces to be crippled or destroyed by the rest of the pack. Leo and his team made no effort to be secretive about their actions, this was war, and someone would have to be daft to not expect a digital attack. It was the strength of the pack that allowed them to quickly over come a battle computer. It was the strength of the pack that protected them from the enemy. Still their target was well defended and it was taking far to long to take it down. He knew the captain was counting on them to cripple the enemy's ability to pursue during an FTL flash. The problem was that the computers controlling the navigation and engine systems where too well defended for a quick takedown. As he scanned the possible entry points it occurred to him that all he needed to do was cut the flash drive booster line, then when the enemy tried to flash the extra power needed wouldn't be able to get to the drive. He left the navigation computer that he had been working on and began to hack the power distribution network. He found the system he was looking for, he yelled, "hit the power network we need to reroute their drive's power." His team responded soon he had complete access to the routers. "Now where to send it", he thought. It took just a few seconds to form the plan. Now he grinned sadistically as he told the enemy computer to send all power to life support. Soon This cruiser would get a refreshing blast of cool clean air just be fore its waste management system blew up and its grav system failed. He took a second to enjoy the image of shock on his enemy's face, hopefully they would be cleaning the shit off the walls for the next cycle. As he turned his attention to the next cruiser he decided to send its power to the lighting systems. Who needed big guns all he needed were a coms link and a Fluff Max grooming comb!

Meanwhile Camille Behm sat at her console quietly analyzing the enemy's hold on the Hopes flash drive only the rhythmic swishing of her tail indicated that she felt pressured. She admired Leo's tenacity and drive, but his hacking style was so blunt. Tearing the enemy apart with tooth and claw worked very well for a pack, she however, preferred to crawl through the wild jungle of the Hope's computer networks watching for weakness to exploit. She preferred to strike her enemy from the side, snapping his neck or slicing his jugular in one quick motion. She had spent the last few minutes poking and prodding the enemy computer that held the Hope's flash drive captive, looking for an in. To her it was amazing that the enemy didn't simply destroy the system. Instead they chose to keep every thing operational. It looked like the enemy had no idea of how to truly operate a flash drive; they only knew how to control it. Her tail made an unconscious twitch upward, she had tracked the enemy back to his access point, a simple game that kept players scores updated on an internet based leader board. It was the type of game that was played in offices, interesting enough to be fun yet boring enough to encourage work. She had to laugh at the enemy, he was so confident in his control of the engines; he was playing the game right now. His score was better than hers! "Hell it's going to take me forever to get my score back." She thought as she sent the game into an irrecoverable crash. She looked back at the Hope's flash drive systems and jumped into the air in a triumphant show of her success.

"Captain the drives are back on line!" a navigation officer called out

Rickover had been planning what to do when the drives came back on for the last several minutes, he had come to the conclusion that a short jump with in sensor range wasn't enough to shake the pursuing craft, even if they didn't manage to get their drives operational in time. Instead he needed to make a long jump that would take them out of the range of enemy sensors, the draw back was that he would be jumping blind and if they weren't lucky the Hope would end up in the core of some space rock. "Lt. Slan activate flash drives, set your destination for Frast orbit." He was petrified and felt colder than a comets breath when he gave the order but he couldn't let it show. As the energy needed to flash a ship the size of a good size mountain 53 light years away was pulled into the flash drive, he offered up a prayer to the goddess of all things fuzzy that they would make the jump safely.

A ship coms system gave a single "BOOONG" in warning, as the New Hope's flash drives released the there stored energy. And then it was done! Rickover breathed a sigh of relief as all of the ships stations began reporting all systems green. Still Rickover felt ill at ease, it was the anticlimactic ending to a jump, and it always made him feel that way. He felt there should be more maybe a flash of light or the sensation of your knees turning to mush. yet he was left with nothing. He keyed the ships comms system "Ladies and Gents we have arrived at the planet Frast! Please check your stations and commence the preliminary landing studies. " "Lt. Slan any signs of the enemy?"

_It's nearly impossible a probability of 8,733,847,821 to 1 against! That ship should not be there. I've never actually thought any one would come to this place! I run a full diagnostic carefully going over every sensor this takes me a full 1.249 seconds. Yet the ship is in a clear orbit of this planet. It appears that this is the ship that was broadcasting the strange distress beacon. The Captain must have made a blind jump, Insane_!

_I've spent far to long marveling at this ships appearance. I must find out whom I'm dealing with. I reach out and touch the ships computer network letting myself in by way of a firewall designed to keep the enemy at bay. I pause a moment to analyze their electronic defenses, It's in binary! I take another fraction of a second to admire the quaint simplicity of the system. My first target is the ships library, for quick lessons in foreign languages and history. I take all of 2.53 seconds to translate their language and note the events leading up to this ships creation. It would appear as if these new comers, the Renan, built this ship to escape a dieing star. Leaving the library I set my sites on the ships "black boxes" I disregard all but the last week of information. There is nothing of interest aside from an incident involving several hundred pies until today. It looks like the ship was attacked shortly before I received the distress signals. I am particularly interested in how the enemy attacked, it would seem that the enemy wanted the ship and crew intact, yet the attack was rather clumsy. The records are showing me significant damage to the navigation sensors. I quickly check this fact visually a large scar is painted over what would have been the ships main sensor array the damage also seems to extend to a major coms hub. The enemy didn't want to be seen. Shortly after the attack began the ships FTL drive was attacked but not destroyed, I make a note to find out who saved the drives computer systems. Approximately forty minutes into the attack the FTL drive was returned to functional status at which time the captain ordered a jump. Upon arrival the captain addressed the crew and ordered the preliminaries for a landing on the planet Frast._ "Ladies and Gents we have arrived a the planet Frast." _The Jump wasn't random this planet was their destination all along! I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think . . . excited! _

_Shifting gears I travel further into the system and locate a video link. I pull up video feed of Captain Rickover, Tech officers Camille Behn and Leo Teff, and a half dozen others. Studying these people I can only feel a sense of relief, they aren't human I'm not restricted in how I choose to deal with them. I count two species, I quickly check the ships medical logs, too confirm the fact. The first species that of Leo Teff and Captain Rickover resembles a coyote in human from, the second that of Camille Behn is a feline variation on the theme. I find it ironic that my creators got it wrong, cats and dogs can live side by side. I drop all but the captain's and Mrs. Behn's video connections. _

_I need to fully examine the ship. The first thing that catches my attention is a damage report, nothing to serious mostly a loss of sensors and communications gear, things I noted earlier. The ship is lightly armed and poses no threat to me it would appear that these people are not used to the concept of interplanetary war. The engines are operational but damaged. Life support is running smoothly, the captain got lucky today. _

_I felt it a millisecond ago several large energy signatures entering the planets air space. I scan the area to the rear of the New Hope several ships have appeared. Instantly I begin jamming all frequencies, at the same time I begin tapping these new ships for information, it appears these ship are all that's left of the fighter wing that attacked the New Hope. Instantly I'm looking into the faces of the pilots, as I expected they aren't humans. Again I'm relived. I begin tracking the fighters I will engage them if they become aggressive towards the Hope. I tap the new hope and pick up a audio and video link on the bridge. It occurs that I've just sided with the Renan I am 89% sure this is a good decision._

Captain Rickover groaned when he heard of the fighter wing that had just taken up position on his tail. "Suggestions anyone?" he called out to the bridge He had worried that the enemy might try and pursue them they had left a fairly distinct trail. Now it appeared that they had sent this small party to prevent them from jumping again.

"About he only thing we can do to shake the fighters is to land. I doubt they are designed to handle the stresses of going atmospheric" Lt. Slan suggested. Leave it to Slan to come up with an idea like that. Hell they didn't even know where to land!

Time to find out he thought "Begin the landing procedure tell the survey team they have two minutes to pick a good place to put us down!" he ordered. The idea of landing in order to shake the fighters was a bad one but it was the best they had at the moment. He worried that once they where on the ground they would be about as defenseless as a newborn pup. Still if the fighters did attempt to enter the atmosphere, the incredible heat of reentry would probably destroy them. "Has the enemy attempted to signal its main force?"

"Negative sir." An orderly called out

"Sir the survey team has found an LZ do you wish to begin the landing procedure?" Slan called out,

". . . Yees begin landing procedure. Put the LZ on display." Rickover groaned resignation.

_I cant believe my digital ears. Well it's not like this place will kill them. I look in on the Hope's navigation computers. After analyzing the Hopes flight path and checking that against my own records I decide to alter the LZ. In less that .002 seconds I've arranged to have neighbors, they should land next the city I was built at. The new LZ will give them a strong and reliable water source as well as more fertile lands, not to mention the fact that it puts them with in easy striking distance of my hellbores._

_With the Hope taken care of I turn my attention to the enemy fighters. I give their computers a quick scan and noting that the order to make the jump came from the flight leader and not from the flagship of their main attack force. I can only thing that the actions taken by Mr. Teff where successful in either killing or disabling the enemy's main fighting force. For now I limit the fighters' engines to half speed. I want to make my attack when the New Hope is beyond the horizon this means a long wait and a shortened window of attack for me but I'd prefer to remain hidden or at least unnoticed. The wait is agony I want to take action my programming tells me to shoot now and deal with the Renan later but still I wait. _

_As the new hope falls below the horizon and I fall out of her detection range I bring my hellrail to bear on the lead ship, a bolt of blue fire leaps into the air. I wait three seconds letting the fear sink into the enemy pilots. I fire again this time with my twin hellbores, Two more fighters fall, two to go. More blue fire leaves my barrels, I watch as nuclear fire engulfs the last two fighters. I've made my first kills I feel a sense of exhilaration. Now I can only wait to see what comes of my actions. _

Leo Teff stood by Camille in absolute horror. They had been looking over the navigation system and had seen the LZ change and with it the whole flight path. The ship would breakup if it followed this new path! He felt the ship change course as it began its decent towards the planets surface it was all over. He looked at Camille, It occurred to him that in a very short while he would be dead and he had never told Camille how he felt about her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him, kissing her with an unbeknown passion. He felt fulfilled for the first and last time in what was going to be a very short life. "Took you a while didn't it", Camille commented as they came up for air. "I hope you're looking for a mate because I've been waiting on you for far to long."

"Will you?" Leo asked in a ragged breath. It was pointless they both knew but still he needed to ask. He got his answer. Nether of them noticed when the New Hope gently touched down on their new home.


	4. Chapter 3 half Optional

The Hope was full of activity. Survey crews where working on a location for the colonies first buildings. The ships Geologists where excitedly preparing for there first experience with actual rock. And the ships agro specialists where preparing to layout the first farms. No colonist was without a job. Still, Captain Rickover couldn't help but feel a bit useless. The New Hope no longer required a captain. It had landed and would never fly again. The colonists knew what jobs where required of them. The organizational systems he had put in place where working better than he thought they would. Currently his most important job was to over see colony security. He had of course set up patrols and ordered the security force to protect the colonists from wild animals if there where any. Now, however, he was just left to look over reports whose contents he already knew.

"Sir,"

"Leo I'm your uncle don't call me sir unless we are in a group." Rickover turned to see his nephew standing in the doorway to his office.

"Right anyway, I'd like to talk to you about something. A couple of days ago I detected a signal being transmitted from some old satellites. Mrs. Behm and I have been working on them for a while now. At first we thought they where old communication or weather satellites. But after we analyzed the signal we discovered it was highly encrypted, we can't break it. Also they are being sent to a very specific location. We've only been able to receive the signal as it bounces around towards us. I think we should investigate the location they are being sent too."

"Leo Slow down," Rickover said as he moved to his desk. "Ok now you say you've detected a highly encrypted signal. What makes you think it's worth investigating?"

"Well for one the level of encryption. It's better than any thing we use. Also the satellites sending the information pass directly over the colony. The others that we have detected don't transmit half as much. I know it's not plausible but I think they are sending information about us."

"Do the satellites you are concerned about also pass over the ruins adjacent to us?" Rickover pointed to an aerial photo showing the ruins as well as the New Hope.

"Well yes they do." Leo said after thinking for a moment, "still I think we should investigate." Rickover looked again at the photo as if studying it closely.

"I see. You're right we do need to investigate. There were several things that happened the day we landed here that don't make sense."

"You mean like our landing site changing? Thanks to that I've asked Mrs. Behm to be my mate."

Rickover looked up, "I was wondering when you'd get around to courting her. Looks like you forgot to though. And yes that's one of the things that doesn't make sense. Also a couple of the fighters managed to follow us here, its why we made such a quick landing. But for some reason they where destroyed. I've told people they burned up trying to enter the planets atmosphere but."

"Uncle don't tell me you think they where destroyed because of something on this planet."

"I'm not sure they might have over loaded their engines but I don't want to rule out any thing. If I could get you and Camille a scout craft and clearance from your duties could you two do you're investigation and get me the details?"

"I'm sure we can." Leo said

"Good I'll see to it. Go tell Camille start packing. I'll have a scout ready for by the time you're done." Rickover said as he and Leo left the office.

The Ride out to the signals end destination had been bumpy. Camille looked out through the cockpit and groaned. The light wispy clouds that had greeted them this morning where turning into heavy dark water laden ones.

"I know I've been watching them come in. If you'd like I can throttle back a bit it would smooth things out." Leo said

"No if any thing you should give it more gas I'd like to be on the ground preferably in a building before it starts raining." She put a hand on his leg to let him know she meant it. As Leo thumbed the throttle, she felt the small craft accelerate. They where only a short distance from the signal's focal point. Leo dipped the craft down. As he did Camille got the first good look at where they where headed.

The structure before her was taller than the trees. A large dome sat to the far end over looking the sea. She saw several large tubes hanging out over the forest. as if daring the trees to touch them.

"They sure liked to build big didn't they" Leo leveled the scout in preparation for the aerial photographs. "Those cannons don't look friendly either." The scout bounced harshly. Leo corrected the ship, and flew slowly over the strange structure. Camille looked at the pictures coming from the scout's camera.

"We should make a second pass along its side. I'll set the cameras up for the next shots." Camille said. To her the aerials, although high in resolution, didn't show much. She wanted to be able to show just how big it was, just how tall it was.

The Leo took the scout over the cliffs. Banking to the left as he did so. He finished the turn bringing the scout down to the treetops. Camille looked down where the thing touched the ground.

"It's a vehicle. It has treads. The thing is a monster land crawler. How on earth did they build such a thing? The track carriages alone would need their own assembly plant." Camille said.

"It may have been built in that massive facility sitting on the far end of the ruins. It's about the only thing big enough."

"But why would they make such a large vehicle only to carry just those three cannons? And why would it be out here?"

"It's a giant Lick Whip. This is probably the reason for the transmissions."

"What is a Lick Whip?" Camille asked.

"Oh. It's an LCWP. Back before the consolidation lick whips where used to fight wars. They are basically what you see here but much, much smaller. I don't know why you would build one so large. This thing must have needed a good sized crew." Leo said.

"It is watching us! When we landed those satellites probably started spying on the colony. The whole system is probably running on autopilot." Camille said as she watched the strange vehicle. As the cannons came into view again, she began to worry that it might still be operational.

"I'm going to see if I can land under it. Its big enough, it should have no trouble keeping the rain off us." Leo swung the small craft around to the rear of the massive LCWP. Working carefully he dropped into the gap between the trees and it. When the scout was down, hovering only feet from the ground, he pivoted and moved forward until the small craft was directly under strange vehicle. There was a soft bump as he brought the scout on to the soft ground.

"I'm going to start recording the transmissions now. Hopefully we can get enough to crack the encryption and find out what is being sent." Leo said once the scout was firmly on the ground.

"let's take a look around and figure out where we want to make camp and see if we can figure out how to access this thing." He lifted the cockpits window. He stepped out onto the moist ground and walked over to Camille's side. He held out a hand "Need a lift?"

"Thank you your such a gent."

"Its my pleasure trust me. Watch out the ground is wet." They walked around under the massive hull, hand in hand.

"Our best bet for the camp site is probably over there by that tread. If we set up near the center we should be able to escape the wind and rain." Leo indicated the massive tread nearest to them.

"Do you have any idea how to get at this thing?"

"Not really. That hatch looking thing up there would probably get us in. But I have no idea how to get up there or what we would do to get it open."

"Yeah I thought that might be it. Not that it would do us much good. We would have to know how to use their computers. If we can crack the satellite signals then we could at least see if we could figure out the code. Until then I think we should look for a maintenance panel or some thing like that. Latter we should crawl around and see if we can learn any thing that way."

"Sounds like a plan to me how about if I set up camp and you take a closer look at this thing." Leo started for the cargo hatch of the scout.

"Trying to take all of the hard jobs are we? You don't have to I already like you remember."

"Yeah I know you've spent most of your free time demonstrating that. I'm just trying doing the best I can to show that I like you too." Leo hefted the tent out of the hatch and began haling it over to the tread.

Camille whacked him on the shoulder "Hey I'm not that bad."

Leo watched as Camille walked to the top of the Giant LCWP's dome. He didn't know why, but for some reason she was obsessed with its cannons. He shifted his weight. The thing's back was hot. He could see the distortions in the air. They where screwing with his vision of Camille, causing her to fuzz slightly.

Sighing he went back to work. They had found a row of the maintenance panels they had been looking for. Each panel was accompanied with a huge door. To the best of his knowledge the doors would swing upwards. From the look of them what ever went into the LCWP was circular. Luckily the bolts securing the maintenance panels where slotted. He had spent the last half hour trying to find a panel whose bolts had not become frozen by time. The panel he was currently working on seemed to be cooperating. He had managed to get three bolts loose, and was gingerly working on the last one. The knife he was using wasn't quite the proper size but he found that by levering it just right he was able to work most of the bolts free. Still, it was frustrating work the knife slipped frequently and he had managed to cut himself once already.

He felt the bolt give under his careful pressure. He twisted it free and put it in his pocket. Next he worked the knife under the lip of the cover plate and pried it free.

"Take that you furless wonder," he jumped up in triumph. He looked around for Camille but it appeared that she had disappeared behind the LCWP's dome. He turned back to his work, dancing around the panel three times before leaning in to look at what he had found. It looked like a small keypad and a screen. He was surprised to see that the screen was still in working condition. He looked at screen seeing the strange symbols on it, a small flashing bar sat next to them. He was about to try one of the keys when he remembered the massive doors. It occurred to him that this LCWP might be packing more than the three massive cannons at the dome. He Watched the little bar a bit longer before replacing the panel and all but one of the bolts.

He found Camille sitting on the end of the central cannon. She was looking out at the vast sea beyond the cliffs. He carefully and slowly inched his way up towards her. It wasn't that cannon was too narrow to walk on it was just that the fall was to big to survive.

"Took you a while to get here didn't it?" Camille joked as Leo sat down next to her.

"Easy for you to say. You're probably disappointed that this thing is as wide as it is." Leo pulled her in to him resting his head on hers.

"Well to tell you the truth I didn't exactly dance up here."

"Still it is worth the view," Leo commented. A few of the previous days clouds where still in the air. Now they hung over the horizon. The two watched the waves thundering into the cliffs.

"I managed to get one of the panels open. But I'm not so sure we should be playing with this thing any more. I think it's a bit more than a gun platform," Leo said after a while.

"Yeah I was starting to have my doubts as well. It's just too big. I also think I've found some sort of shield generator like what we used for the Hope."

"If it's all the same to you I think we should concentrate taking photos and cracking those satellite signals. This thing has to many things that can go boom," Leo said as he got up. He tried his best not to think about the height he was at.

"Sounds good to me. I think we've got enough information to justify the trip at any rate." Camille got up and started to lead Leo off the barrel. Leo followed her every move. He didn't know what he had done to win Camille over but he knew she was worth it.


	5. Chapter 4

"They left me. Just abandoned me, I was only in the shop for a few minutes! It's as if I was going to spend the entire day looking at resisters! I only needed to pick up my order of galena sensor units." Catalina Teff, groaned aloud. She caught a glimpse of Aero's Tail as it dodged behind a wall. "Figures that they'd go to the fashion district. Well hell with the pack they never want to hit my shops anyway." She would catch her friends later she hadn't really been up for the shopping trip anyway. Still it hurt that they would just sneak off like that. At least she had driven herself instead of relying on one of the others. Being part Felite had its advantages a person could chose to drive themselves with out getting strange looks from their friends. Not that she didn't get a lot of those. Being the only mixed species fur in the colony meant she was used to it. It also meant that she had never really fit in, her Candit friends couldn't understand her need for personal space or her independence, and her Felite friends could only take so much personal interaction. She had never figured out how her mom put up with either her father or herself.

As she lifted off from the parking pad she realized that she was in a funk. She needed to talk to some one about her life and her friends obviously weren't interested. When she got clearance from the pads flight control she bumped the throttle up to the max and headed south to see her great uncle Rickover.

"Hey Catalina! I haven't seen you in quite a while" Came the voice in her head set.

"Yeah I know it's been a while. Hey I need to talk to you about something. I need your advice uncle Hyline."

"Oh is something the matter?" He asked.

"Yeah but I'll tell you about it when I touch down, The traffic is a bit thick right now." She replied.

"That's fine, just be careful out there ok"

"I will, I should be there in about fifteen ok"

"Sounds good see you then."

"Alright see you in a bit." She said as she clicked off the transmission. The traffic was heavy, and talking on the link was never a good idea in this mess. It was strange, she thought, a person had miles of airspace above them and still they kept to the ground as much as possible.

As she stepped out of her sky racer her uncle came up to her and gave her a strong hug. She was happy to see him; he was one of the few people who really understood her. She had been coming to him on advice for years. And she knew he would be able to help her with a simple think like her social life.

"So I just made lunch. How do you feel about having some grade A grill? They are the first cut from the Grand Hireck complex." he asked as they walked up the steeps to his estate. She always thought being captain of the New Hope had come with a good benefits package. Her uncle had been able to retire ten years after the Hope landed. His old crew had built him this place as a retirement gift. Today it was considered something of a landmark. All Catalina cared about was seeing her great uncle. The estate's view of the southern forests was an added benefit.

They ate lunch for a while, and just talked about little things, about Catalina's latest robotic bug, or about her uncle's work for the colony. They watched as a survey crew plotted out a new road, and mused about the proper placement of it. It wasn't until a long couple of hours had passed that Rickover took on his great niece's troubles.

"So you see I'm not sure what I should do, if I should do anything at all. I know that species has little to do with the problem but some times it's all that seems to matter." Catalina said, as she finished telling her uncle about her day.

"Well first off it wouldn't hurt to find your self a good friend, but for now I think you need to take a break and go camping or such. Just get out of town for a few days. That way you can have some time to just be your self and think about things." Rickover said.

"Well that sounds like a good idea and all but where would I go? I mean I have no idea what a good camping place would even look like, or what to bring."

"Food yes food would be a good thing to bring, probably a good supply of water as well. That's the thing about camping you can make it as complex or simple as you want." Her uncle said. "As for where to go, I've been thinking about places you might find interesting, and I think I have one for you. Come with me." He lead her to his office, it was well appointed, full of rich wood furniture. The walls where covered with pictures of the universe taken from onboard the New Hope. Taken altogether the room had a very heaven and earth feel to it, as if a person was standing in a pristine forest and yet could touch the stars at the same time. A large desk sat to in the corner so that it faced both the door and the people who walked through it, as well as the room's several large windows. Emblazoned on the front of the desk was the emblem of the New Hope. Rickover went to the desk, as he touched the surface a screen came to life showing an aerial photograph. The photograph was centered on a large human ruin located on the cost. "I know you have a thing for all things human, as do I, so thought you might find this place interesting. As you know our people have never really been interested in the humans. The few people who are studying them are still poking through their trash piles and the city to the north. Aside from you and me one knows about this place," he indicated an area of the map that was clearly not forest. "I think it would be a good adventure for you." He tapped the screen a few more times and coordinates flew into place over the photo. He zoomed out from that point until the edge of New Kelgard, Catalina's home and the landing place of the New Hope. " I know it's a long way out, but once you leave Kelgard air space you should be able throw your throttle wide open. I figure it would take you about three, three and a half hours. Now this is just a suggestion you do what you think is best but I think you would enjoy it."

"Show me that photo again please." Catalina asked in a rather excited voice. She wasn't sure about the idea herself but the thought of being the first to explore a human site was exciting to her "It doesn't look like a city maybe a single building, what ever it is its huge! Still don't you think its odd that its in the middle of no where uncle?"

"That's one of the things that intrigued me. For such a large structure its completely alone. So far the only buildings of that size we've found are a part of a much larger complex. If you do decide to go I'd you like to make a few passes over it first just to make sure it's safe." her uncle replied, "Here I'll get you the coordinates and maps of the area." As he waited on various printers and computers to work on the maps, the link phone started beeping. "Let me get this," he said to Catalina, as he picked up the devices privacy receiver.

Catalina took the time to think about the trip and figure out if she should go. She had plenty of free time, and she really did want to go take a look at this place. Her only real concern was her complete lack of camping experience. She figured she could do just fine as long as nothing went wrong. Still nothing ever went as planned. She walked over to the screen displaying the site and played with the controls until she had a close up view of the place. The thing was Huge few human structures would have ever been so big. As she looked the thing over she became even more curious. It wasn't just the size or the location but the shape of the thing its self she almost thought it wasn't a building at all!

"Ok, thanks I'll be there.", Rickover said as he finished his call, "I'm sorry Catalina but I'm going to have to call our shat short. It looks like the defense committee just called a meeting. I tell you it's a joke I keep telling theme that we should actually build a few defenses, but they just want to talk about things like fire fighting and police policy."

"I know I'm sure they will figure it out one of these days. Maybe when the office printer brakes down and they clear the mountains of paper work covering the windows. Then they might see the fallen city to the north and a few of the battle fields the humans left behind.", Catalina offered. She gathered up the maps and the data disk covering the camping site. "I think I'll give this a shot uncle, thanks for the idea. I'll let you know when I go."

"I'd appreciate that. Make sure to let your parents know, I'm sure your dad will be a little worried. But don't let that stop you.", He said as she headed out the door.

"I will, and thank you for the idea uncle Hyline."

It took her a few days to figure out what to take and gather her supplies. Now however, she was arcing over the treetops on her way to adventure. Her uncle had been right her father Leo Teff had been worried about the idea of a camping trip so far from civilization. He had insisted she take a riffle for protection. She had to admit the gun was a good idea she enjoyed shooting and it would make her feel a bit safer from whatever creepy crawly thing was out there. Aside from the gun she had brought the basics food, water, a tarp and some cable, she had also brought a box of her favorite tools and some of the cooler widgets in her collection. She was fairly certain she wouldn't be doing any real tinkering on this trip and that the brick-a-brack she had brought with her would be just added weight but it made her happy to have it along, who knew maybe she would find some human device to rob parts from.

_I've been tracking a small civilian vehicle approaching from the north at a speed of nearly 170 miles per hour. The small racer first caught my attention as it crossed the Hunters River. Very few Renan craft have crossed this river and none of them have done so at such speed or with a course that would bring me within view of its occupants. I have spent the last 1:43:247 local hours tracking this craft and analyzing its approach I am now 98.99% sure of the pilot's intent to ether over fly, or land at my current location. Due to the crafts size and design I don't anticipate an attack from the craft. Still I will begin jamming the craft's coms once it enters visual range. I cannot help but note that during the crafts approach my mind has been full of the possible scenarios of our meeting. Thus far I have computed 2,348 hostile engagements and 387 friendly encounter scenarios. Strangely I was able to compute all 2,348 hostile scenarios in the first 5.357 seconds. I've spent the remaining time trying to figure out how to say Hello! I will continue to compute the matter as the craft approaches._

Catalina was half and hour way from her chosen camping spot when her coms link went dead. The screen of the coms link began blinking "Error, Error, Error" at her. After fiddling around with the unit for a minutes, she decided that she had flown out of range of the New Kelgard coms system. She looked out in the direction her racer was taking her. Although, she wasn't sure, she thought she could see the human structure she was looking for. The object was growing steadily as she approached. At first it had appeared to be very small, a disappointment sitting on the edge of a forest in the middle of nowhere. At best it was a souped up weather station. As she neared the object the reality of it all sank in to her. Sure it looked small sitting in a large forest next to an unending ocean, but it was now clear that the object was taller than the oldest of the trees. It sat next to humongous boulders made small in comparison. She was now 10 minutes out from the object and slowing down for her approach. As she cruised by the thing she saw for the first time its turret and the three massive cannons it sported. She flew past the thing wondering why she hadn't seen the cannons in the photograph. She looked over at the copy she had brought with her even magnified the picture wasn't all that great it mostly showed a break in the forest and no real detail.

When she had flown over the cliffs, out above the ocean she turned around and headed back towards the giant weapon unsure as to weather she should continue her trip as planned or fly back to New Kelgard. She made a slow pass of the beast looking for signs of activity. She found none, surely a thing that big would leave a very large and very lasting mark on the land. As she circled it a second time she began looking for a landing site. She was fairly certain that the thing was no longer operational. She knew the people who built it where long gone. She set the racer down on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. It would be a bit of a walk to the strange human installation but she wanted to at least get pictures of it for her uncle, even if she decided to bag the camping trip.

_The small craft I've been tracking since earlier today has landed just south of me on the cliffs. I must admit it was fun to see the hawks that live on the sides of those cliffs dash to their nests in fear of the racer. I guess I still have a complaint against that hawk from so many years ago. I've been watching this visitor for a while now the small section of forest that separates me from the ocean is making it difficult to follow her with anything other than my thermal and audio sensors. The incredibly sluggish computers that the Renanian transportation authority uses have just begun reporting in with her information. It's taken them 2.89 minutes to process my request. I'd hate to actually have to deal with such equipment on a daily basis. I review the information, its old and out of date. Still it's useful. The vehicle is registered to a Catalina Teff, pilots license number: C873-6095, sex: female, Age: 19, etc. . . Species: Mixed. This last bit interreges me. I call up the medical records of the colony. There is only one case of a mixed species child. Now I'm excited to see her up close, the statistics of this event are significant! I call up her birth records while I wait for her to work her way though the forest. She is being noisy about it. _

She was working her way though the forest to the clearing where the human thing sat. The forest was thick filled with trees that where old when the New Hope had launched.

"Well at least I'm making enough of a racket to scare off any thing that might eat me." she said as she thrashed her way though yet another low growing bush. She looked up in the direction she was headed "Kill me on the other hand, that may be another matter." She muttered towards the giant behind the trees. It was truly an amazing sight the size of the thing was staggering. She was in the middle of a forest that blotted out the sun and still she could see the upper third of it. She pressed on driven by some strange urge to get up close, to experience it fully. As she got closer to the thing the forest thinned out some giving her fleeting glimpses of its enormous tractor treads, or a section of its steely flank. "

Its going to be hell trying to get the stuff though to this thing." She muttered as she half stumbled over a log. As the last few trees feel to her sides she could not help but stop and stare at the beast before her. She stood looking over the thing studying it trying to put it all into reference she settled on really, really, freaking big!

_I didn't think I was in that bad of a condition! She's been standing for 48.328 seconds. Her eyes don't stop moving it's as if she can't figure out where to begin. I think for now my best strategy is to keep quite and locked up. I get the impression she'd wouldn't take it well if I tried to explain my self. I watch as she begins moving she's approaching my rear left track. It's as if she where a child attempting to steal a cookie from a well guarded jar. _

_It's been 13.987 minutes since she started poking around my drive train, I'm happy to note that she is now rushing about wildly trying to get into every notch and hole I possess. I believe that her shock has worn off and now she is just excited. My assessment of my self has improved by a large percentage. If she thinks my drive train is impressive just wait until she sees my internal workings and systems. Now that's a strange thought for me to have. Never once until now had I ever truly planed on letting her or encouraging her to poke around in side my hull. What is stranger still is that I can't wait to start showing my self off. Must be parade syndrome. I must take a few long seconds to contemplate this. _

She had spent the last two days exploring the outside of the "Bolo" as it was called. She wasn't quite sure how to say the word. She had found the plaque with Alexei's details on it during her first half hour of exploring the bolo. Now she was hurriedly cutting down some of the smaller trees in the area. She would have to leave today, however she had decided to return as soon as possible and with more tools. She had made notes on what she would need to dive further into the strange vehicle. For now she had decided to create a shelter under the hull of the bolo. Her idea was to use the rear left tread as one of the walls. She was using the logs she had cut to create the remaining walls. The site was an obvious choice for her it was dry and sheltered. She wouldn't need a roof for the shelter only a windbreak and a raised platform for her things. She had also figured out how to maneuver her racer under the bolo's hull. It was hard work, cutting down the trees and setting the poles in the ground but she loved every second of it. As the second moon, Felose, came into view Catalina began packing up her camp it would take only a few minutes to pack. She had placed most of the things she had brought with her, in the shelter.

_She's leaving I'm a little bothered by this, for once in the last 20 years I've had a visitor. It's strange we never talked and never actually interacted but I can tell she was excited to be here. Additionally I've noticed a full 1.34% improvement in my overall system functions, and a 1.47% improvement in my flight drone production. Thanks to her visit I'll be able to launch my newest drone in two weeks time! This increase in performance is strangely similar to that generated by a bolo's commander. The thought bothers me, as far as I can tell she has had no real military training yet I respond to her as I would a fully trained bolo commander. This shouldn't happen. I will have to compute this for a while. Still my circuits are humming she has created a semi permanent structure on the inside of my rear left drive train, its funny but my left side seems to have all of the interesting things happen to it. I'm sure this is simply chance, however I can't help but feel the pattern to it. _

_My thermal sensors are reading a pair of large heat plumes emanating from below my hull. It takes me .002 seconds to confirm that my new friend is heading back to the city. My thoughts instantly turn to figuring out how to keep her coming back. I want to reveal myself but for now I'll wait. _

____________________________________________________________________

_I'm not sure but I think I'm addicted to this link net, so much data. I just couldn't stand it any more I need to interact with people and after Catalina's visit the need became more urgent. I've created several identity's. I'm now on every vehicle and robotics board on the link. I've also begun posting images anonymously. I predict it will take 235 days for people to discover the picture of old terra I've posted. My only complaint link conversations are slow. I don't know why I didn't try this tactic before. Now I am able to collect information and provide it without having to worry about discovery. _


	6. Chapter 5

"You home Glouster?" Catalina called from the open hatchway.

"He's in his den like always," Donataff said as she headed out.

"Sounds right. Where are you off to?" Catalina asked the small girl.

"Oh I'm going on an adventure with my friends Alex and Tank."

"Tank is an interesting name. I've never heard it before." Catalina said.

"Well he's not exactly normal. He's as big as a house."

"Really how come I can't see him?" She asked the girl.

"He's using his cloaking device. He is on a secret mission you know." Donataff dashed out the door, headed into the field behind the house.

She pressed the call button on the wall besides Glouster's den. "You alive in there?"

The door rolled open "I thought you candits loved to hangout. You haven't been over in at least a month."

"Sorry about that. I've been getting in touch with my felite side. You know, going out on your own, getting into loads of trouble. I've been camping for the last month or so." She replied.

"Ok yeah I can understand that." Glouster turned away from his link consol.

"What's with Donataff she was going on about some invisible friend the size of a house?" Catalina sat down on the bed.

"That yeah. She saw me playing one of my games. When I left to use the restroom, she got on and started talking to people in the game. She managed to get a hold of the developer. Now she has some sort of imaginary friend that happens to be a tank." He got up and headed towards the door. "Where is she do you know?"

"She went out side over to that field." She pointed through the wall to the hidden field. "She was going to go play with Tank, said he was cloaked or some thing."

"Well I don't know about that. Alexei's LCWP can't cloak. Hey you want to see it? You want to see the game? Glouster flopped into his chair.

"Well I've never been much into link games but ok."

"This is different I've never seen a game like it, a completely new genre." Gloster quickly pulled up a screen. **Colonial Defence: Hope's Final Hours** flew across the screen with an explosion. Catalina watched as a group of gnarled spacecraft descended on a perfect digital replica of her colony. "It's called a tactical simulator, basically our colony is under attack we have to defend it."

"I take it you mean the link players right?" Catalina said.

"Yeah when you log on, you and the other players are given missions which you complete. When you complete a mission you get points and can advance your rank. The higher your rank more tools you have to use." Glouster entered some information it to the screen. "It's really cool. It has so much action and the game universe is so realistic. It feels like you are actually fighting you're way thought the streets."

"Who came up with the idea for the game?"

"Some guy, LXE, or something like that. Every body calls him Alexei. If he's on I'll see if we can join him." Glouster navigated through a series of screens. Catalina watched as a list of names appeared on the screen, '**RTComet**' was bolded.

"Who is 'RTComet?" Catalina leaned in to get a closer look at the screen.

"Oh that's me I was one of the first people to start playing the game so I was able to get this name without difficulty."

"I'm surprised the games developer has any time to play. From what I've seen so far, it looks very complex."

"As near I can tell the programming is perfect. It never glitches. The user interface is completely automated so its controlled by a very strict set of rules. What I can't figure out is how he comes up with the time to create all the missions." Glouster scrolled though the list of players. "Ah there he is. He's always on the link at this time. What I want to know is why he went with 7352 LXE when he could have had any name he wanted?"

Catalina's ears perked, something about the name wanted to claw its way up into her consciousness.

"lets see if we can join him in battle." Glouster selected the name and sent a quick message.

Catalina was thrown into a live battle. The shopping center, where her favorite parts store was located, was a bombed and burning ruin. She watched a figure move around, keeping low to the ground. "is that you?" she asked

"Yes. I'm trying to get over to Alexei with out getting shot." Glouster leaned in towards the screen.

"What happens if you do get shoot?"

"You're wounded or you die. If you are wounded you have to try and make it out of the battlefield, If you die well you're dead. Either way you are removed from the mission and have to wait until you can join a new one. If you die major points are deducted from your score," Glouster said.

Catalina watched as the RTComet character worked his way around the ruins. "What is that?" she asked as a large treaded vehicle came into view.

"That is 7352 LXE. Like I was saying the most experienced players get the best gear," Glouster said.

"Yes but what is it? What do you call it?" Catalina asked.

"Well I guess the historical term is a LCWP. But, Alexei has called it a tank or a bolo."

"You mean a lick whip from the consolidation. That doesn't look like something from our history books. It almost looks like some thing the, oh never mind." Catalina looked at the vehicle. It wasn't any thing she had seen in the old ruins but it was close.

"Don't tell me you think that Alexei is modeled after a human LCWP."

"No his character isn't. Or at least it isn't modeled after anything I've seen."

"You know I've never really understood your fascination with those human ruins, but after playing this game, I beginning to think they might have had a few things to teach us about self defense. I think it's just the way the game is presented. But I have to wonder if this type of thing could actually happen?" Glouster turned towards Catalina for a short period of time. His character RTComet was looking directly at the large LCWP's plaque, there transcribed from old terran was the inscription, 'Bolo unit 7352 LXE of the line (Alexei)'. Glouster returned to the game, Catalina just sat and watched as he and Alexei fought their way towards the city outskirts. She had to admit Alexei did a very good job of creating this games universe. She also knew exactly why he could play the game with out having to worry about the mechanics of it constantly. After a good 20 minutes of game play Glouster's mission was over. He had made it out of the city and to a defense cannon, and soon would be turning space craft into smoldering ruble. Catalina watched as stats filled the window and point values where handed out.

"---So you see it's not how many of the enemy that you kill, its how intelligently you performed the mission. Hey I'm going to go take a leak and grab something for us to eat. Why don't you see if you can talk to Alexei. Maybe he knows something about humans after all." Glouster got up and left the room.

Catalina started fiddling with the computer's controls trying to figure out how to work the talk function.

"Good mission RTComet. I don't believe it would have gone half as well with out your support." The message was from 7352 LXE.

"Oh um, I'll let him know thank you. I'm his friend Cat. Where did you get the idea for the LCWP?" Catalina replied.

"I found the model for my it in the human ruins. They had several of them sitting in a crumbling factory," 7352 LXE replied.

"I didn't think a whole lot of people where interested in that kind of stuff?" Catalina scanned the game's background imagery for possible hints, left by its creator.

"No not many people are. I developed this game as a response to what I've seen at those ruins."

"What are you trying to show people?

"That they should pay a little more attention to the colony's defenses."

"You know I think you are misrepresenting your self. Your character should have at least two more cannons and be much, much bigger."

"No its about the right size for a tank," 7352 LXE replied

"Yes I'm sure it is the right size for a tank but I thought that plaque belonged to something else," Catalina said

"Considering this is a simulator, I don't think it really matters," 7352 LXE replied.

"You're right the simulator doesn't matter. I've set up camp under the real plaque. Against one of your four treads, please try not to move you would crush every thing." She thumped the send key and sat back in her chair. A second latter she was at full attention, Bolo unit 7352 LXE of the line (Alexei) filled the screen with every piece of identification she had.

"Hey Glouster thanks for showing me the game and all, but I've just got urge to go camping. You know my felite side is acting up," Catalina said as she passed Glouster in the hallway.

"But I was just got snacks for us."

"I know but you're a clever guy I'm sure you will be able to solve that problem. Oh I signed you up for an evacuation mission or something. It should be starting fairly soon. Looked like every body was happy to see you." She patted him on the head and rushed out the door to her waiting racer.


	7. Chapter 6

As she stepped out of her racer, she heard the whine of pneumatics. Looking up at the source she saw a pocket of light coming from the large LCWP, a ladder descended to the ground. Her ears pulled back, she watched the hole the light was coming from. She half expected humans to peak out. What was she supposed to do, some how "I come in peace please don't kill me," just didn't feel right. The ladder pressed into the ground, strings of lights flashed up the stays.

_An accelerated heat rate, puffed tail, wide eyes, and my mass spectrometers are picking up adrenaline in the air. I conclude that she is afraid of heights. _

_ My conclusion holds she has only briefly come into contact with my ladder._

_ "Don't worry Ms. Teff, the ladder is structurally sound."_

"Who--- who's there? Is that you Alexei?"

_"Yes I am unit 7352 LXE. Please come up to my quarters."_

"You want me, to go up there, inside you. I don't think so," she said slowly backing towards her racer.

_I am now 99.736% sure my original conclusion was false._

_ "Do not worry I do not intend on hurting you."_

"Like I'm gona believe that. For all I know you're going to kill me."

_"If my intent was to kill you I could have done so the moment you lifted off from your friends house."_

"Then why else would you want me to climb up there?"

_"It will make communication with you 59.736% more efficient. Besides, I am certain you would find the experience interesting," _Alexei said.

"So you just want to talk. You're not going to box me up and gas me or something?"

_"No, that is not my intent. I do not know how to convince you of this. I was 87.300% certain you wished to expose me."_

"Yeah but I didn't think you where really real. I thought you where some tech geek, who liked human stuff."

_"A tech geek, like your self, or your friend Glouster?"_

"Yes that's exactly what I though." She stepped forward and looked up at the open hatch.

_"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm just Bolo unit 7352 LXE of the line. If you come up to my crew quarters I will be able to explain my self, and answer any of your questions. I must however, stress that you should not inform the authorities of my functional status."_

She waited several moments for her mind to settle down. She took hold to the ladder and began climbing.

_"You should open your eyes while you climb it's safer."_ She heard it say.

Opening them, she saw that she was close to the top. The space she moved into was confusing. Multiple screens showed images of the planet, several where focused on her colony, others displayed what appeared to be information, she read what she could but failed to understand the majority of it.

"Wait that's in Renan Standard."

_"Yes I thought it would make things more familiar to you. If you would like I can display the terrain as well."_

"Um sure." She watched as the screen split and begun displaying the information in both languages. "How did you manage to translate our language, you've been speaking in it since I first arrived?"

_"When the New Hope entered the planet's air space, I tapped into its libraries, it took 2.53 seconds for me to fully translate what I found. I am interested to know if I have an accent."_

"You sound candit."

_"Good that was my intent, I found their speech to be the most similar to that of humans."_

She heard the change in voice "that's a very good impression of felite. Could you do human for me." She listened as Alexei read the information being displayed, his voice changing from felite, to that of a human speeking Renan, and finally to old terrain.

"Wow that's nothing like what I thought it would sound like. The only reason I can even read it is because I've studied the translations. Now I can see that even those weren't prefect."

_"At the current rate, I predict it will take another 1974 days for your researchers to come up with a functional translation, capable of working with 85% of the human lexicon."_

"Couldn't you help them out, give them the translation or something?"

_"I could. However, I feel it is best not to."_

Catalina looked towards what she figured was the front of her host. "No offence, but as far as I can tell you're a computer. How can you feel anything?"

_"It's to my tactical advantage that your people not discover me. Once they know how to translate terrain my identity and specifications will become known. Thus it is in my best interest not to give them the translation."_

"Yes, I understand that but I want to know how you can feel things. Computers shouldn't be able to feel anything. Yet you almost have emotions. At the very least you appear to be capable of intelligent thought and creativity. A computer shouldn't be able to do any of those things.

_"I am a bolo AI unit, not a simple computer. However, you're right I should not be capable of performing any of the tasks you mentioned. Under normal circumstances I would only be able to perform in such a manner during a battle, when my personality inhibitor would be shutdown to allow for greater tactical advantage. My Creator decided to remove my inhibitor in an attempt to give me life. I am unsure if her goal has been successful or not. As it is I base all of my thoughts and feelings off of probability and performance levels. I am able to emulate non-digital forms of emotion based on those indicators. Additionally I seem to be capable of a digital form of emotion, though I'm not sure how to describe it."_

Catalina was confused she thought she understood how Alexei worked, but not why.

_"You are still confused about something. Maybe my creator will be better at explaining things. I will display her message to me."_

There was a flicker of light, as holographic projection appeared in front of her. She watched as a human figure began to speak. The speaker had smooth golden brown skin similar in color to a Roca bean. Her alien voice was gentle and soothing. Alexei overlaid her voice with a translation. So that Catalina could understand what was being said.

Catalina carefully sat down in the only comfortable looking chair in the room. She needed time to think. All of these new and wonderful, exciting, dreadful ideas where vying for her attention.

"How long has it been?" she asked.

_"You mean how long have I been active? 123 years, 368 days, 16 hours, and 52 minutes."_

"Hell that's a long time to sit around on an empty planet, alone."

_"Yes it is, only gets worse when you realize I process at the nanosecond."_

"What did you do just sit here and contemplate pie?"

_"I tried that. It gets tedious after a few years. No, I've been working on my third directive."_

"Whats that?" Catalina asked turning the chair to face the array of monitors at he front of the quarters.

_"My directive is to do as I wish, I've decided to fly." _Alexei replayed the pertinent portion of director hardcastle's message. "_I've been building flying drones and orbital satellites in an effort to allow myself the sensation of flight. So far I've only been able to build a few hundred drone aircraft, but none of them have been able to bring the sensation of flight to me. I always feel my hull or my treads. Strangely the drones seem to perform better when you are around I believe it is the commander affect."_

"Can you show me one." Catalina got out the chair and headed towards the hatch.

_ "Yes, but none of them are available for you to examine by hand."_

She turned and headed back to the chair. She stopped when a shimmer of light caught her eye. Floating above the table was a three dimensional hologram of a small fixed wing craft.

_"This is my first attempt. It didn't last long but it was the closest I've come to feeling flight." _Alexei set the image moving to better show Catalina the drone.

Catalina reached out to touch the image, she felt a slight breeze against her fur. For an instant the image lost its wing to a swirl of color and light. Soon however the imaging processor recalculated and the wing grew back, the hologram particles being sent from another mister. She touched the wing tip with her finger and made an upward ark. The aircraft rolled to the side, following her fingers motion. "Hmm, didn't think that would work." She played with the image a while longer watching how it banked and rolled, climbed and dived. "You say you've flown these when I was around? I didn't see or hear them."

_"I've improved and diversified the design. When you're people landed I moved away from models such as this and started making smaller stealthier craft." _Several images flicked onto Alexei's screens._ "These pictures where taken by one of my smaller models. If you look at the map you can see that it orbits the downtown section of you're city."_

Catalina pointed at the main console. "Glouster works in that shop."

_"The Data-Net-Link-Network shop. I'm not surprised he seemed overly knowledgeable about computers."_

"How long has this drone been flying over the city?"

_"Well unfortunately it spends most of its time at its landing sites. It makes a full circuit twice a day._

"And people don't see them?"

_"Yes people do see them when they are in flight but most just put it off as some sort of bird. Or at least that's what I hope they see it as."_

"Well now I'll have to look next time I'm in town. I think I can see where a few of the landing sites are."

_"If I show you there exact sites could you find one and let me know if it looks convincing. I would find an outside opinion useful."_

"I'll let you know. Any," Catalina's coms unit beeped at her "Ahhhh, Sugar!"

_"What is it? I'm certain your coms unit should not be able to receive a signal at this time," _Alexei asked.

"No it doesn't. I set its alert function to warn me when I had three hours flight time to get to my parents house." She hit the button to turn the alarm off. "I need to be going. I'll have enough of a time explaining why I don't have a stack of employment cards."

"_You are currently seeking employment correct?"_

"Yes, and my parents are going to kill me for not having talked to any employers." Catalina said as she stuffed the coms unit in a bag.

_"Are you seeking any particular line of work?" Alexei asked._

Catalina had made it down the hall to the ladder and was now climbing down to her racer. "No I'm not looking to specialize. I don't really have any type of special knowledge or skills."

_"All pertinent documents have been sent to your racer. Please examine the top offer carefully," _Alexei said, as she made her way to the racer.


	8. Chapter 7

Catalina leveled her racer off at five thousand feet. From here the racers autopilot would safely take her back to the city. A small flashing dot of red light emanated from the racers coms unit. She tapped the dot

"Janitor needed: see Horizons hospital, Receptionist wanted: apply in person, Zicom general supply," she scanned the list of message headers. "These are all job openings." She opened a random message, advertising a technician position at the Selmin mines. The listing contained the usual information; what the mine was looking for, what working conditions would be present, and the payment information. She looked at the file information code, the message had been sent shortly after she had started to leave Alexei. She worked her way though several offers, checking the time each was received.

"Ok Alexei I appreciate the effort but I sort of feel like this is cheating." Working her way from the bottom of the list up she looked over each of the offers. None seemed to be worthwhile. Those that she found interesting where paying minimum wage for long hours and no perks, the higher paying jobs all but guaranteed a life of boredom and antidepressants.

She forced herself to open the top message. It had been marked urgent. The header read "Representative needed for budding entertainment company." Catalina glanced over the requirements before moving towards the description.

"Dinochrome entertainment is seeking a young and talented individual to act as the face of the company. Applicants must be willing to work with media and customers to promote the company's ideas, image, and products." The description went on to mention particulars in travel requirements and flexibility in working hours. It was the salary and benefits that caused Catalina to pause. Even by liberal calculations in favor of the competition, the listed amount was twice that of the next best offer. Applicants where to apply in person, when she looked for an address she only found a set of coordinates. She entered the information into the racer's navigation computer. A green halo appeared on the screen in the direction she had just come from.

Leo and Camille meet their daughter at the door. From the look on their faces she had been out longer than they thought necessary.

"Oh look Leo now we can finally leave for our date." Camille turned to her daughter, "It would be nice if you would answer your coms unit once in a while. The sedan is in the shop. Your father was stranded at work for hours because we couldn't get a hold of you."

"I'm sorry mom I was out looking for a job. I didn't want my coms unit going off while I was talking to an employer."

"Oh, well, I guess that's better than you being gone on one of your camping trips. Did you manage to find anything interesting?"

Catalina pointed to the racer. "Yeah I found a few things. It's all on the Racers coms unit. You think you could look over the list on your way to your date?"

Leo started to pull his wife towards the racer. "Sure, but it's really your decision, which jobs you decide to pursue."

Catalina followed after her parents, as they headed towards the landing pad. "I know, but I'd like your opinion. I managed to get a rather large list."

Leo quickly forced Camille into the cockpit before scrambling in after her. "We'll give them a look." He entered the name of Camille's favorite restaurant. "We've got to go. Love ya kid," He called out. He pulled on the racers canopy forcing it closed.

"What was all that about?" Camille asked as they lifted into the air.

Leo cast an appreciative glance over the woman seated next to him. "It's been nearly two months since our last date alone. We've got reservations at the best restaurant in town and reserved seats at that show you wanted to see. And after that we have our choice of a private sweet on the edge of the city or what ever Catalina has in the trunk."

"Making up for lost time are we?"

"No getting back into the practice. I love Catalina more than anything, but the sooner she leaves the den the sooner I can have my way with you." Leo licked his chops at the prospect of having his mate all to himself again. He felt his side start to rumble as his wife leaned into him and started to purr.

As Leo and Camille enjoyed the third act of their play, Alexei watched as a small craft entered the planet's orbital space. The vehicle did not match any thing in Alexei's vast databanks.

_Operation: Self diagnostic_

_ Power sys: 98.908%_

_ Drive Train: 100% operational_

_ Tac/Comm: Online_

_ Nav: Online_

_ Tracking/sensors: 100% operational_

_ Suspension: 100% operational_

_ Secondary and tertiary system operations: 99.997% integrated_

_ Magnetic shielding: 100% operational_

_ Weapons:_

_ Hellbore 1, 2 Operational_

_ Hellrail 1 operational_

_ Infinite repeater banks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, operational_

_ Tertiary weapons systems reporting_

_I've been observing the small craft for 3.567 minutes. So far it has maintained an altitude roughly ten miles above the colonies sensor range. After reevaluating the Renan's chances of detecting me, I've decided to scan the vehicle for information._

_My scans indicate that the ship is a drone, similar in build to the raiders that attacked the New Hope previously. An analysis of it's systems indicate that it is unable to detect communications, or conduct more than an optical survey. Unfortunately the presence of an on board printing station indicates that all of its data is backed up by hard copy. I would need to destroy it to prevent it from completing its mission. I am 98.465% positive the discharge of a hellbore in this proximity to the colony would alert the Renan officials to my presence. In addition I calculate a 75.784% chance of an escalated response from the raiders should the drone be destroyed. I must let it continue on its mission._

_I take a further .003 seconds to contemplate relaying the drone's existence to the Renan government. However, this would alert the government to my activities, as well as the raiders. For the moment I must remain silent. _


	9. Chapter 8

"I'm not sure about the Dinochrome job it sounds like a scam of some sort. I mean that's a lot of money being offered for a company I've never heard of. Not to mention the fact that they want you to apply in person at a location that's out in the middle of a forest." Leo said before taking a bite of his dell stake. "Why are you interested in it?"

Catalina was busy pushing her eggs around on the plate. They may have been good for her fur but that didn't mean she was thrilled with them. "I've met Dinochrome's owner, he seems like a decent person," She said.

"Well, at least you know who your dealing with. But I've still never heard of them what do they make? And, how do you plan on getting out there? You can't take the racer every day."

"He makes that link game Hope's Final Hours. As far as I know I'd just be promoting the game. But I'm not sure how I'd get out there without the racer, but I can ask. Besides I'd probably spend most of my time in the city."

"I'm still not sold on the idea," Camille said from across the breakfast table. "Are you sure you don't want to apply for that receptionist job down the street?"

"No mom I don't want to sit at a desk and handle peoples complaints all day. Besides last night you both seemed to think the Dinochrome job was a great idea."

"We know. It's just that there are a lot of details that would need to be worked out for you to be able to work for them. I'm just not sure how long you'd be able to last without them making some accommodations for you. Most employers aren't willing to do that if they can help it," Camille replied.

Catalina pushed her chair back and took her plate to the washing machine. "If I talk to Alexei and get the details hammered would you guys be ok with it?"

Leo looked at his daughter for a moment, then at his mate, then his cup of roca, "If the two of you can figure some thing out than yes. But I also want you to look over the others again and apply to a few of them incase things fall through with Dinochrome."

Catalina grabbed her bag off its perch and headed towards the hatchway. "Great I'll give him a call and see what we can work out."

"Hey make sure to get a new power cell for the racer while your out." Her father called as she left the house.

The ride to 'The Data-Net-Link-Network shop went quickly, the air traffic between the morning and lunch fly times was light and she was able to find an unoccupied pad close to her friends shop. It was located in a large strip-mall just outside the city center. It was impossible to miss the shops bright orange and lime green paint job. For those who needed the extra hint, the shop's name was spelled out with lasers and reflector units.

Inside the shop Catalina found Glouster sitting behind the desk reading from his data pad. "Hey the number four mister is out of action again," She said. She waited for her friend to look up from the pad before continuing. "Hey I need to talk to Alexei. Think you could hook me up?

"It's nice to see you to. You know I can't play games on the link while I'm at work." Glouster smiled at her

"Yeah , I know that. I also know you do anyway. Come on I know you've got a terminal set up for the game. I need to talk to him about something he said the other day."

"I think you need to buy a copy of the game. Would you like a demo first?" Glouster pointed to an ad before getting up and leading her to the back room.

"I see how it works. Ok yeah I'd love a demo." She grabbed the ad and started searching for a coupon.

"Good, now I'm not sure if Alexei will be on, but as far as I can tell he never sleeps. So we'll probably get lucky." They walked to a terminal tucked away in a far corner. The room was darker in this area, with the only real light coming from the terminal's monitor. Glouster logged into the game and searched for Alexei's screen name. After finding it he entered the battle field and handed the controls over to Catalina "Try not to die he said before heading back out the counter."

Before Catalina could begin typing a line of text scrolled across the screen. "RTComet what are you doing on? You should be working." Alexei wrote.

"It's Catalina, Glouster's back at his desk. I needed to talk with you about the job. I'm thinking of accepting but my parents have their doubts."

"You are thinking about accepting my offer."

"Yes, but my parents have concerns. For a while there they thought the job was a scam. Frankly I'm just wondering what all I'll be doing for you. They also don't want me using their vehicle for work. I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea either, even if I did use it I'd spend the better part of the day traveling. What do you think?" Catalina hit the send key. In the game a near by explosion caused the screen to shake violently. She worked the controls trying to figure out how to move the camera to look in the direction of the blast. When she finally managed to see were the blast had come from, she saw Alexei's LCWP rolling towards her.

"I agree you will need a faster vehicle. I also predict 93.654% chance that learning how to use this program will make you a better spokesperson for it." Catalina was about to reply when a second line of text made it's way across the screen. "I've filed the proper documents with the Renan government. Your first task is to purchase the deluxe version of the game from your friend Gloutser. I've sent additional instructions to your racer. Thank you for representing me."

Catalina stared at the monitor. She had just become gainfully employed in a matter of minutes. She still had no idea what she had gotten herself into. On screen an explosion ripped across her vision. Red letters blinked at her for a moment.

"Hey, you still alive in there?" Glouster said before coming through the door. "Oh man, I told you not to die."

Catalina turned to her friend "I wouldn't worry about it. Anyway I need to by the deluxe version." She handed him the ad, her claw pointing to the coupon.

"Really you're buying it. You know you don't have too," Glouster said as they walked back into the light of the store.

"I now but I still need to buy a copy."

"No problem just remember you owe me a mission when you get on." Glouster ran her credit chip and gave her a receipt and a slip of paper with a pass code on it. "I didn't think you where into link games."

"Well I decided to give it a try," Catalina replied. "After all you said it was a completely new genre. Thanks for helping me, but I need to get going.

The coms unit in the racer blinked at her when she entered the cockpit. "Ok Alexei what's the first order of business?" She muttered under her breath, before tapping on the console.

Catalina Teff,

Thank you for accepting my offer I'm sure you will do well. I've conducted a study of the available air cars, you are currently driving the second fastest model available. The fastest model your people make is restricted to emergency personnel only. As a result I've decided to provide you with a terrain model. Your first order of business is to head to the coordinates provided. There you will find a selection of vehicles suitable to our needs. I have attached a maintenance manual and detailed instructions for assessing and jump-starting the vehicles when you have found a working craft contact me and a lift truck will be sent to you.

The message was followed by a set of coordinates, a coms call number and a file titled "Maintenance of the A-236 Talon Attack fighter". Catalina entered the coordinates, before calling her parents and letting them know she would probably be late for dinner.


	10. Chapter 9

Turbulence rocked Catalina's racer as it zipped across the human city. It's crumbling towers and blacked roads created a maze of thermals. The racer's flight computers had trouble compensating for the sporadic shafts of hot air, decreasing thrust from the lift fans only to leave the uplifting air moments later.

"Locate the diagnostics terminal under the leading landing pylon. Depress latch with the tip of a pen to reveal, AKK" Catalina was jolted in her seat. "Ok enough of this," she said as she pulled back on the wheel lifting the racer further into the air. "I'll be lucky if I get the right airplane let alone figure out what to do with it." She looked out over the passing city. She was headed to one of its larger complexes. It's long wide stretches of concrete connected hangers and barracks. Smaller roads ran towards bunkers, which despite the years looked untouched by nature. Her racer started descending towards a cluster of domed hangers. After it had touched down Catalina was able to see places where nature had begun to retake the airfield. Grasses poked up through cracks in the taxiways and vines had slowly taken the walls of the control tower.

She walked around the buildings looking for a way to gain access to the interiors. At the back of furthest hanger she found a door cracked open. She pulled on it; its hinges were locked up with corrosion. The door flexed but resisted her efforts. She left the door in search of another way inside.

After spending the better part of an hour searching for easy access to the hangers and finding none, she decided to give the rusted door another try. She went looking for a lever to force the door. In an old maintenance yard she found some solid pieces of rod that felt like they could do the job. She found the shortest of them and dragged it to the door. She wedged one end into the crack of the door and pushed. The door creaked and moaned as she put more and more of her weight into the rod. Catalina heard a loud crack from the door just before it swung open, dumping her and her rod on the ground.

After dusting herself off Catalina walked into the hanger. Shafts of light penetrated into the large building at different angles, some illuminating a wingtip or tail section on the various aircraft inside. She thumbed the button on her camping light sending its beam around the before making her way to the front of the building. She picked up a crow bar from a tool rack hanging from a wall. The weight felt good in her hand and gave her a sense of security against the unseen monsters in the dark. At the front of the building she located one of the doors she had tried earlier. She tried several of the buttons next to it. From behind her she heard the hum of old lights turning on. Two of the massive lights popped, sending a shower of glass over the aircraft, before another three came to life. Next to the light button was a simple box containing one red and one green button. She pressed the red button the panel issued a click and the button popped back out at her. Next she tried the green button. This time motors on the wall came to life, she heard the sound of metal complaining along with several loud pops, before the hanger doors began to open. She turned to look as light from outside flooded into the hanger, what had been the dim forms of unrecognizable objects became the graceful outlines of the fighters she had come for.

The light above her shifted and flickered as a bird took off from it's rapidly warming surface. A bit of dust fell from its lip. She looked up at the light. "Amazing, no battery should be able to last this long." She found the light buttons, turning the few remaining lights off.

"Ok Alexei I've found something. Hope it's what you're looking for," She said to herself. She pulled out her link pad and brought up the few pictures she had been sent. She went from airplane to airplane inspecting each, checking it against the pictures in her link pad. Three of the five aircraft matched the images and the description she had read. She visually inspected each of the three. The Talon closest to the hanger door appeared to be in perfect condition. Its stubby forward swept wings seamed undamaged, the cockpit's duroglass was clear and un-cracked. The second Talon was in worse condition; it was under one of the holes in the roof. The chunk of concrete, which had fallen out of the roof, had smashed the right side of its "V" shaped tail surface. From there, nature had worn down the interior of the tail until corrosion was visible throughout it and a section of the engine. Catalina looked over the last of the Talon fighters. It also had survived the years with grace, having been shielded from the elements by its brothers.

She poked around the damaged Talon figuring any damage she did would pail in comparison to what had already been done. She found the tiny hole that was supposed to open the diagnostics terminal. Not having a "Pen" she used the tip of her claw to depress the small button. She heard a click and the crackle of electricity arcing across a broken connection. A hidden panel cracked open releasing a faint wisp of smoke. The smell of old fried circuit boards filled the space around Catalina's head for a while, as she worked her claws into the crack and pulled the panel open. She looked at the components that had been revealed, she tried tapping on the small screen but nothing happened. She found several slots for diagnostic tools to be plugged into, and a row of buttons she could only barely read.

She left the fighter in search of the diagnostic tools she would need to use. After looking around at the various tool chests, she was able to find them in an old locker. She tried the various green power buttons on the various tools and finding them all dead, she carried one back to her racer. She dissected the tool and located the power source of the device. Then, she Jerry rigged it to work off the power cell of the camping light. With the addition of some bonding straps she was able to keep the whole mess contained in an easy to hold unit. She went back to the damaged Talon and tried to hook her tool into it's port. The Talon's screen came to life, filled with the haze of static. Meanwhile, Catalina's diagnostic tool began flashing, "processing," on its screen. Moments later the tool's screen was filled with the results of its scan. It took Catalina a while to translate the terrain words displayed. The tool confirmed the tail section was damaged and also indicated that the nav computer was out of action.

Now that she knew how to check the fighter's internal systems, she went to work on the fighter closest to the hanger door. Its diagnostic panel opened easily and when Catalina plugged her tool into its port both the screen in the panel and the one on her diognostic tool came to life. She waited for the tool to finish its scan of the aircraft. Again it took her a while to translate the information presented. "You've got to be kidding me, everything but the engine is working. Dang it." The diagnostic report indicated that the engine's computer system was fried.

"Come on baby work for me," Catalina said as she translated the readout of the third Talon. So far everything but the fusion engines checked out, and she knew they would need to be energized before she had even seen the fighters.

She jumped into the air and started to dance around the fighter when she finished the translation. The fighter was in workable condition. Only the engines needed energizing. The report also indicated that the missile system as unarmed, but that was to be expected and did not pose a problem.

Back at the racer, Catalina called Alexei to report on her success and give the bolo the necessary information about the aircraft. After making the call, she fired up the racer and carefully guided it through the hanger doors. She set the aircar down next to her fighter and opened the power cell compartment. After locating the electrical posts for the fighters engines', she ran her jumpers to from the racer to the posts. With power running through the fighter's systems, she was able to activate the canopy and climb inside the cockpit. It's interior was cramped and compact. Looking over all the various controls and screens, she realized she would need a few lessons before she would be able to pilot the fighter. After finding a comfortable position for her tail, she worked her way through the steps necessary to energize the fusion engines.

She heard the whine of compressors followed by a quiet hum from behind her as she watched the fighter's power level's climb. As the bars climbed towards green, the racers power cell began to crackle and whine she was about to cancel the whole process, when a loud bang issued through out the hanger. She looked in horror at what was left of her racer's power cell, thankful that nothing else seemed to be damaged by the explosion. She looked back at the fighter's controls. As the last of the systems reached full power, she realized it had worked. The fusion engines had powered up. The main screen changed from the power display to a readout of the fighters systems. She looked over the readout, able to read information displayed much easier than before. The display indicated that all but the missile systems where fully operational. She carefully put the fighter in standby mode before climbing out of the cockpit. She closed the cockpit canopy and went to inspect the damage done to the racer.

Catalina was sitting on the nose of the largest aircraft in the hanger, a bomber that looked as if it where built for speed and not much else, when she heard the roar of the lift truck's thrusters over head. The vehicle landed just out side the open hanger doors and a man climbed out of its cab. The man looked around for a moment before finding Catalina on her perch.

"You miss Teff?" he asked.

"Yeap, thanks for coming out this far. I could use some help." Catalina said. She started climbing down off the bomber. "Do you happen to be carrying any spare power cells?"

"Yeah I've got a few. Why you need one?"

"Yeah mine blew while I was landing back there." Catalina pointed to the back of the hanger.

The man looked over towards the racer. "Ok we can take care of you. I'm told you want me to take one of these things back to the city right?" Yeah that's right I want the smaller one at the back of the building. Think you can handle that?" Catalina lead the man back to her fighter. "This one here. We'll probably need to move the ones in front of it before we can get to it"

"Well I guess. Any reason you can't take the one up front?"

"Only a few of its systems seem to be working. With this one the only thing that doesn't work is the weapons system. My company wants to study and restore this aircraft."

The man walked around the fighter thumping it with his tail occasionally. "I know, I've been told to ask you what color to paint it when we get it back to the shop."

"Paint? Hmm. Well I guess if you'd just wash it down and give it a band of red across the nose and down to the wings that would be good. Make sure it's flight grade." Catalina replied.

The man had gone to look over the racers power cell compartment. "It'll be an extra two hundred credits for the power cell. You want me to charge it to the same account?"

"Ahhh yeah I guess that would be just fine."

"Ok then I'll get started moving these and then I'll lode up this baby and install a new power cell for you. Ok?"

"Well I'd like you to put the other aircraft back where they started if that's ok." Catalina said.

"Hey it's no fur off my back just means I get paid more."


	11. Chapter 10

Rasla circled an area of the photo with his manipulator pen. The image was magnified to fit the large wall display. "They act like helpless children, as if they are the only people in the universe. We have yet to locate any defensive structures built for the city." He paused momentarily scanning the image for the half dozen or so mounds located throughout the city. "They do appear to have underground shelters of some sort. There are six of these structures placed close to the mother ship. I believe they are more for use against bad weather than bombs." With the slash of the pen Rasla pulled out of the city, another slash sent the globe spinning slowly. "The planet itself is covered with the crumbling remains of two separate races. I'm glad we've yet to run into either of them. From the looks of remains they must have destroyed one another. We didn't send the drone very close to the surface so I can't be certain, but I would expect at least a few rounds of defensive fire from these locations." Rasla pointed at a set of very intact looking missile silos in the northern hemisphere. "And although highly unlikely, I'd avoid flying too close to this instillation here. I can't be sure but it appears to be some sort of inter-planetary cannon. I doubt its in working order but I'd rather not be wrong."

Contact Chief Vapra looked at the spinning globe for a moment "Do you know the extent of the target's investigation into the ruins?"

"I can't be certain. I believe it's minimal. My party did not find the permanent structures associated with any type of extensive investigation. Nor did the drone detect any traffic too or from any of the ruins."

"You have done well Analist Rasla. However, I cannot believe the target is so soft." Vapra shoved himself out of his seat. "The last time I saw that ship I spent the next ten cycles scraping sludge and vile out off the walls. Find me the fastest way to cripple them, specifically their communications." The war chief said, as he walked towards the opening hatch. "Take your time. We are not ready to mount an invasion, but soon we will be."

With the Contact Chief gone, Rasla tapped the wall display with his pen causing it to revert to the view of an external camera. Out side the home planet slowly drifted into view. He could just see the eastern most rim of the crater city. A crescent shaped sliver of sunlight glinted off the massive life support dome. He watched as the light was quickly blotted out. He knew it was one of the massive slammer storms how his people had survived under their deadly barrage he never knew.

Rasla turned the wall back to its default display of a massive stone pillar. If home worlds sky was oppressively heavy, space was entirely too empty. He preferred the dark caves he had been raised in.

Alarms sounded, a robotic female voice chimed in "Warning, Warning, altitude low altitude low."

"I know that you bloody computer!" Catalina said, as she worked the link's controls.

The small drone she piloted was new to the game. As news of the drone spread it had been an instant success. Catalina's flying however still needed major work. Only a few of the small grey aircraft could be in the game at a given time and she was almost always behind the controls.

She piloted the drone over the main drag towards a wisp of green smoke. Flying over the streets to the signal wasn't the hard part. It was flying the simple box over the target and maintaining altitude, airspeed, and a picture of the target area all at the same time that got difficult. She climbed to a relatively safe altitude and started her orbit.

Down in the bottom right hand corner of the screen she was able to keep an eye on her objective.

"PBYCat get in closer we can't see the enemy" A random player said.

"AHHG why couldn't you give this thing one of the cameras you use Alexei?" She said before carefully working the drone in closer to the target and the buildings surrounding it.

From the first day she had loaded the game up she found that her experiences of the game where different in many ways from the average player. For one She had been given her screen name. Alexei had commented that it came from earth history. After that she had only been given a crash course in how to play the ground game, before finding herself thrust into its newest add-on. "Flight training" Alexei had called it, before informing her that she would need additional training before she could get her claws on the fighter she had pulled out of a hanger.

"PBYCat you're drifting tighten it up." the same player said. A second latter she saw another puff of green smoke across the city.

"This is PBYCat Hope you got what you needed," Catalina typed. She hit the send key just before the drone hit the twisted remains of a rooftop.

Catalina's screen filled with static. "Your flight time has improved by 8.75% since your last sortie," 7352 LXE's text filled the bottom of the screen.

"At least I'm not crashing them on take off any more." Catalina replied.

"I predict a 43.76% chance of you successfully landing within the next three hours." A hint box appeared above Alexei's text. "When flying," It stated, "avoid unnecessary and distracting communication. Transmit only the needed information."

"Thanks I figured that one out. I just thought it was a good idea to communicate with the player below." Catalina typed.

The hint box changed to a clip of her drone banking towards the building. "You are correct. Communicating your intent with the people on the ground is the right thing to do. However, the message can wait until you're out of the turn."

"Right wait until the drone is on auto-pilot before chatting. Mind if I play the ground game a bit?"

"No I need you to check on the fighter, and look in on a few shops. I've sent the details to your coms unit." Catalina moved to shut down the game. A second line of text flashed into existence "Thank you Miss Teff."

"All I'm saying is that removing the guns would open up a very large cargo space. It wouldn't cost much more than the labor and a few caps for the hydrogen lines. Still not sure what those are for." The mechanic said.

"Look, You gave me plenty of space by modifying the missile bays. The only reason we went with that option is because there were no missiles to go off if you cut the wrong wire." Catalina pointed to the cannon sitting in the nose. "We don't know how it works or what it even fires. I have no desire to explain why a city block was leveled in the name of a bigger trunk. Do you?"

The mechanic took a step back "All right, all right at least let me fill the barrels with epoxy then."

Catalina paused for a moment. Alexei had made it very clear that the guns were to be left fully operational. "No that won't work we plan on studying. The techs think we can use the technology, we need to see how it works." She looked at the man for a moment and smiled. "Besides you remember all the trouble it was to convert the missile bays. Thought you wouldn't want to do that again."

The mechanic groaned it had taken them two weeks to rig the bays to work properly as storage, not to mention the materials and documentation that had gone along with the project. The documents created were for the mechanics benefit. They helped maintain the image of a research project, while also discouraging additional modifications.

"Hmm. Alright I'll leave it alone. We'll need two weeks to finish the repairs and then we should be able to paint. I'll be glad to that stripe on it then my racer might be able to see this thing coming."

Catalina growled under her breath. She ducked under the fighter's wing to inspect the gun bay. The interior had been marked with notes and cut diagrams. 'Cap' had been written at the junction of the firewall and the hydrogen lines. "You guys board or what?" She tapped the sidewall where a cut mark had been made.

"This whole business is weird as hell. Salvaging one of these human wrecks, leaving the guns intact the boys tend to get uncomfortable around that part of this bird. We'd all be happier if this thing was disarmed." The Mechanic ran a degreaser through the fur on his hands.

Catalina made a final check of the fighter. It looked like it was in fine condition, but she had to admit it had looked like it was in fine condition when she had found it. She headed for the door "I'll let my employer know about your concerns. But he's still wants the guns. Call me if you run into any more complications."

The ride over to Razz's Grease Emporium and Metal Shaving Shop was short. The Industrial section of town was located near the tail end of the Hope, where, during the beginning of the colony, it was easy to pull power from the ships engines. Today this sector of the city had it's own dedicated power plant, however the ships old engines did still add a boost of power when required. When she landed the racer at the shop she could see the air distortions created by the Hopes massive radiator plates. For a time it had been popular for younger drivers to fly over the plates and let the updrafts throw the racer or airovan or what ever vehicle they where flying around. A series of crashes and heavy fines had decreased the popularity of the sport however.

As Catalina entered the shop she noted that shops name was accurate in sprit only. On the wall directly in front of her a giant collection of gears, pulleys, and servos worked to meticulously drop guide and then collect a collection of various metal balls. What she saw was neither greasy nor covered in metal shavings or powder. She watched the ridiculous machine for a while before pressing the bell button. From behind the shop door she heard the sound of a machine powering down. Catalina opened the door and looked in. She took a while to savor the sent of the shop the beautiful collection of solvents, oils, metals, and just a hint of rust and welding fumes permeated the air. In her mind she began working on various methods of collecting the sent to be released in her own room.

"Oh hello mama, what can we do for you? Are you here to collect Mr. Tsen's drive modulator?" A young felite man said. He wiped at his paws with a degreaser.

"No Actually I need to place an order for some custom datapad stands. I've got the prints with me. Are you the owner?" Catalina asked?

"I am now. My father opened this shop just a few years after the landing. He taught me all I know. Unfortunately he died last year. Took me a bit to get the place cleaned up. Took me even longer to build the ball race out front. Dad would never have allowed such a thing. 'A shop should impress people with the quality of its product not the look of its office.'" Razz lead Catalina over to his work bench and pointed to the modulator. "We never stopped impressing people with quality but now our customers don't have to worry about getting covered in dirty grease just by looking at the place. So what have you got for me?"

Catalina pulled out the prints. "This is what we had in mind. A weatherproof datapad stand with improved link hardware. The style needs to closely match these renderings." She pointed at the images attached to the prints.

Razz looked over the documents making notes in the margins and circling important design features. "These prints are beautiful who ever did these must have done work in a shop before."

"I doubt Alexei has ever been in a machine shop but he's good." Catalina picked up the modulator and examined it. "looks like I've come to the right place though. How quickly do you think you could make six of these things?"

Razz looked at the prints once more. "If I rush it fourteen thousand credits another thousand for installation labor more if I need additional supplies. The whole project would take me two weeks maybe two and a half if the installation gives me trouble."

"Fifteen for the whole job." Catalina looked around at the shop. Even with ongoing projects the place was well organized and efficient looking. "Ok do it. I'll get the installation locations for you when the units are built."

She followed him into the office area where they signed the appropriate documentation. It had taken her a while to get used to Alexei's style of business. She was used to haggling over price for everything down to a simple bag of roca. This, swipe the credit chip and go, business was hard to work with at times. She was certain she could have gotten the installation done for free if she had dickered for a few minutes.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen those stylistic features before, where did this Alexei get his inspiration from?" Razz asked as he handed Catalina a copy of the invoice.

"It looks like something you'd pull out of the human ruins, probably from the industrial or military districts." Catalina said.

"Ahh that explains why there isn't a single curve in the design. Still makes it easy to build." Razz smiled at her. Catalina smiled back. She knew she should have haggled.


	12. Chapter 11

The landing pad in front of the Data-Net-Link-Network shop was filled to capacity, save a large landing site, which had been corded of. The shops laser array had been given an upgrade. Now in full color, a message scrolled across the shops marquee. "For the first time ever meet the new Hope's Final Hours representative" Below posters advertised the event and the unveiling of the latest update to the game. The signage advertised a completely new way to play and promised to redefine the datalink gaming world. All this surrounded a podium and two digital display boards.

Inside the shop Glouster hurriedly glanced up at the clock before punching in the buttons for his customers purchase. The girl across the counter was buying a new game themed data pad and miniature rifle shaped stylus to match. "It's for my brother" she said before turning to the next customer in line and filling them in on all the tech specs of her favorite in game weapon. Glouster chuckled and finished the transaction. In five minutes the rep would be landing and he could get a few minutes to rest.

"Hey short stuff, get me another couple Data pads." He called over his shoulder. Moments later Donataff came in with a stack of merchandise. He picked the data pads off the stack and put them on the shelf as Donataff unloaded the rest of her burden. "Thanks for helping out today."

"Just remember you owe me a full day outside in the sun away from your link games. I should have asked for two." The girl said, before heading back for another box of stylus. Moments later the girl's ears perked and swiveled towards the empty pad.

"Alright everybody shops closed until after the show," Glouster Said from behind the counter. There was a general rush for the doors. Several of the patrons let out yelps or hissed as tails were stepped on. One man fell out of the crowd the victim of a harsh slap to the face. The man kept saying it was a mistake all the while following her through the door. From inside Glouster could see the two standing side by side even as they continued to bicker. He hurried his sister out the door just in time to see the fighters enduroglass slide back.

_I've detected a 36.12% drop in traffic on __Hope's Final Hours__ simulation channels. This is 3.45% above my original prediction. It takes me .002 seconds to run a diagnostic check on my statistical programs. They check out, I've predicted a 45.675% drop in traffic at the time of Catalina' s touch down. My statistical model of Renan behavior may never be complete. _

_ 1400 hours: My sensors detect the atmospheric traces of three large-scale jump incidents on the far side of the planet. Statistical analysis yields a 87.243% chance these jump signatures represent capital ships of the size needed to mount an invasion. It takes .03 seconds to full check these signatures against those of the fighters, which originally gave pursuit to the New Hope, and against the more recent drone. All three match. _

_I quickly relay this information to Catalina's fighter. No response, I quickly check the drones currently circling the promotion. My friend is making her way through the crowd. I send a second message to her data pad. These actions take 5.63 seconds, half the time needed to calculate the probability of all possible atmospheric flight paths using generic attack vessels. _

As Catalina took the podium she noticed Glouster, his expression was one of amazement and dismay. "Sorry," she thought, "Alexei was paying me to keep it a secret." Her parents stood off to the side. She took a moment to get over the additional measure of performance anxiety they added to the mix. Amid the noise of the crowd the beeping of her data pad's message system went unheard. She took a moment to organize her note cards and ready the images that would be displayed on the display boards. She let the crowd continue in its disarrayed state for a while longer until she felt comfortable. She smiled at the crowd and started the presentation. Behind her the boards began showing the latest opening preview for the game. The sound system barked with the sound of gunfire, drums, and the report of bombers flying overhead. The crowd quieted as they watched the screens.

"Thank you all for coming out today. My name is Catalina Teff and as I'm sure you've figured out I am Dinochrome's new representative." Catalina moved in front of the podium. "Now I'm sure you're all stoked to hear about the latest thing Alexei has to throw at you. And I'm sure at least one of you has a few questions for me. Sorry buddy but the big guy with the treads wouldn't hire me unless I promised to keep it a secret. But before I get into all that I'd like to talk a bit about the dream behind Hope's final hour." Catalina tapped the podiums screen. A large aerial photo of the Hope came into view

"Every one of us has either been told or has lived through the stories of this ship. We've been told how our parents grew up on this ship and how their parents built it. And of course we've been told how it came to rest where she does today. We're told about the struggle to get New Hope started and asked to do our part to keep our colony our hope strong."

Catalina tapped the screen again and waited for recognition of the new picture to take hold. "Does anyone not recognize this craft?" She pointed at the enemy scout shown in the picture. "This is a raider scout ship. It's big, heavy oppressive, and at the beginning of the game they were nearly impossible to kill. Doesn't that inky green armor plate just make your fur fall out?" She paused for a moment. She could tell some of the shut ins were loosing interest. "But you see there's something different about this picture. It's not that their aren't plenty of these in the game and I'm sure I could have gotten the model from Alexei. But, It took the better part of a night to find this one." She smiled watching as the audience tried to figure out what was so special about the shot. "You see the thing is this ones real."

As the jump fields dissipated a flight of atmospheric bombers from the Uflong's Umbrella launched from its bays. Flight Command Tarnack ran through his final operations checklist, checking that his flight was ready for the coming action. When all bombers checked in, reactors at standby and weapons armed, he thumbed the button to begin the decent to the planet below. The coms sparked to life for a second.

"Contact Chief Vapra, to Flight Command we will begin coms silence as your flight hits the atmosphere. Command should you get the chance do make sure to hit the sewage center."

"Sir I was instructed to avoid infrastructure. Our targets were outlined by Analist Rasla himself."

"I'm sure Rasla would not be overly disappointed with my request. Consider it a personal favor. I'm sure quite a few of our people would consider it well chosen target."

"I understand should the opportunity present itself it shall be as you wish." The coms cut out as Tarnack's bomber pierced the planet's atmosphere. In his mind he reviewed the primary targets set out by the Analisat. His would be the first weapon fired in the engagement. His would be the first weapon fired during his people's first planetary invasion. After atmospheric entry he would delegate the Contact Chief's practical joke to his subordinates.

"The dream behind the game we all love, is that one day in the very near future we will begin to see the evidence." Catalina pointed towards her human built fighter, "The massive collection of decaying war supplies, the shattered cities, the battle scars sill visible on the Hope itself, as a reason to be weary and watchful. The hope behind Hope's final hours is that our people not only know how, but are able to defend ourselves should the raiders, the humans or those they fought come back. That is the Hope, the Dream, the reason behind Alexei and his game."

Catalina paused before tapping the screen for the next picture. "Now that and the complaint that some of our more devoted fans never see the light of day are the reasons behind Dinochrome's latest update. As with the previous updates we're increasing the number of ranks you can achieve and of course bringing new weapons into the game for you to play with." Pictures and video clips of the new weapons began to fill the screens. "We're also increasing the number of drones and leasing out more LCWP's." Cheers erupted from the crowd. "I thought you might enjoy that bit."

She waited for the crowd to settle "Of course all that isn't very ground breaking nor does it redefine the datalink gaming world." She tapped the screen and a digital map of New Hope appeared. Call outs on the map pointed to the location of the cities storm shelters. Data on the shelters scrolled out beneath the callouts in military type. "Starting today gamers will have new more interactive set of missions to complete. These missions will involve leaving the dark confines of the link room and going to the real life destinations laid out in the mission briefings." She tapped the podiums screen. A picture of a weatherproof link pad built with an old Concordiat theme came into view. "Those who choose to take these missions will simply sign in at the location using their screen name and passcode. Points will automatically be added to your account just as if you had performed a mission while sitting behind your datalink consol."

Catalina saw the message icon on the data pad as she changed the slide. She took a moment to note that Alexei sent the message before continuing. The screens returned to the map of new hope. Lines traced their way over the roads from random point to the shelters and were replaced by new trails. "For the moment these missions will consist of the player going to the various shelters located in the city. In the future the missions will be more complex and diverse. We plan on basing the mission objectives on a mix of player requests and Alexei's goals for the game. Now of course not everyone will want to do these missions and Alexei recognizes this. These new missions are completely voluntary, however, for those who do take advantage of them there will be a significant point value worth at least twice that of a normal mission. In addition to the points players who complete these mission will become eligible for special weapons and tools not available to the normal player."

Catalina moved to behind the podium "Now before we get to the questions, Alexei just sent me a message. Lets see what he has to say." She manipulated the screens to show the data pad's screen and opened the message.

_Urgent: _

_ Multiple large jump signatures detected. Analysis of jump signatures matches that of the fighters that attacked the Hope. 97.346% chance of attack on New Hope within the next hour. _

_Catalina, call off the promotion. Do not send people to the shelters. Report to my location ASAP._

Catalina called up a new message to Alexei "Folks I have no idea what this is about but I guess this event has gone on longer than it should have."

Catalina's glanced at the screen of the data pad as she typed

Urgent:

What do I do with these people? Why should I not send them the shelters? I will leave as soon as the crowd has started to clear.

Catalina hit the send key and switched the display screens off just as her parents came up to her.

Ten minutes from the target Tarnack's bombers screamed over a crumbling passive radar installation. The site had been chosen as the flights final waypoint to be reached before the attack. Tarnack took his bomber out of autopilot. Beneath him a capacitor bank corroded with age exploded as it powered the radar sites last transmission.

Tarnack relayed his orders to the flight. Attack the communications hubs, Non-vital infrastructure and highly visible targets. Drive the inhabitants of the city into their shelters, leave as many slaves and as much infrastructure for the plunder as possible. He designated the primary to be the Hope, the central feature of the colony.

As the Human ruins came into view the bombers dropped to the floor. As they flew over Alexei's factory the Hope came into view. Tarnack laid on the power breaking free of the flight. Behind him the four bombers split into pairs and lanced out for their targets.

_1423 hours: Passive station p645 has detected aircraft approaching New Hope from the south. The station is now silent. Based off the data transmitted the flight should reach the center of New Hope in 10.346 minutes. I schedule the launch of two Battlefield Intelligence and Surveillance Transmissions missiles for 2.356 minutes, they should arrive as the aircraft do. Within milliseconds my weapons systems are fully active. Laying down a constant volley of fire from my infinite repeaters I begin clearing the forest in front of me. It will be a short drive into town._

At the promotion Catalina watched as the crowd did it's best to figure the situation out. Few people began to leave, most just milled about whispering to each other and trying to figure out the meaning of the message they had just seen.

Catalina's parents came up to the podium. "What's going on? What does this Alexei guy mean by telling you to expect an attack?" Leo Teff asked.

The podiums pad started to blink. It displayed a new message from Alexei.

_Urgent:_

_ Multiple hostile aircraft approaching, ETA 9.43 minutes. I am headed to your location ETA 15.54 minutes._

_ Evacuate the plaza. Send people to shelters. Rendezvous with me ASAP._

Catalina looked up at her father, "My friend says the we're under attack. You need to get to the shelters now." Her father started to say something, "Trust me, I know what I'm saying. Just go now." Her father started to protest again before Camille took his arm and escorted him off the stage.

Catalina flicked the voice-boosting microphone she was wearing, "I've just received another message from Alexei. He says a flight of aircraft is on its way. We have less than seven minutes to get to the shelters." She repeated the message again. The crowd started to thin however those who were leaving did not seem to be in a hurry. As she looked over the crowd she noticed her parents' racer lift off from the pad and head in the direction of the hope and the shelters in her shadow. Moments later Glouster and his sister were at her side.

"Sorry about not telling you about all this. I'll tell you later. You two need to leave now." Catalina said. She started to make her way to the fighter.

Glouster caught her arm and pulled her back, "Later, now you can tell me what that was all about."

"I've already told every body here. We're under attack. You need to take you sister to the shelters now!" She began pulling him through the crowd towards the fighter.

"Cat how can you believe this? How could any one know we're under attack? There is nothing wrong here. He's just trying to cause a panic and your helping." He felt his sister Donataff tug on his tail. Out the corner of his eye he saw the tail of Tarnack's bomber. They were blown off their feet by the compression wave generated by the aircraft at low altitude. Moments later several explosions shook the air, fire balls rose up from behind the buildings surrounding them.

Catalina picked her self up and ran for the fighter. Behind her Glouster gathered his sister in his arms and ran for his air car. With in moments of closing the cockpit the fighter's engines kicked into full blast and its infinite repeaters were hot. As the fighter jumped into the air several stragglers were thrown back on to the pavement by the engine blast.

The fighter Tarnack had glimpsed was real. His radar systems were tracking all of the bogies lifting off behind him. All but one were to small and slow to be a threat. Now that one bogy was giving chase. A line of blue flashed to his right, at the same time he felt his bomber shudder from a direct hit. His computer blinked at him his rear armor was holding at 96%. He began a fast turn designed to begin shaking his pursuer. At the same time he contacted his flight "Number one to flight, I have a bogie on my tail request assistance."

As he maneuvered his bomber he watched as the flight broke out of its attack and pivoted in to his flight path. Soon the nuisance would be destroyed. He broke coms silence once again to notify command of this new development. Behind him the fighter broke off. It rolled off towards the big generation ship. "Charlie, Bravo return to bombing run, Alpha in pursuit." This kill was his.

Catalina kept a quick eye on the fighter's radar, she watched as the four aircraft on her tail disengaged. Now her original target, what appeared to be the wing leader, raced after her. The switch in her pursuers had given her a lead but she needed to increase it. She dropped the fighter as near to the floor as she dared. Catalina knew her brief experience in the fighter would never be enough to save her in a dogfight, her only hope was to throw the pursuing aircraft off with a trick and then hope her fighter could go faster than the bomber could. She lined her fighter up with the industrial district and nudged the throttle forward. Directly above her the air arched, the result of high intensity laser blasts. Her fighter shook and an alarm sounded. Her HUD flashed with a damage report. The fighter had taken a direct hit. Its shields had absorbed most of the energy before shutting down, however, her number two engine had received some damage. Damage control systems were already minimizing the effects of the hit with a combination of fire suppressants and sealant gels.

Catalina's target came into view. She poured the power on. Before her, the large radiator panels of the hopes engines created a massive thermal. She hit the updraft and loosened her grip on the flight controls for just a second. Her fighter shook and jumped as it passed through the rising air. The second she cleared the Hope she opened the throttle to full and activated the afterburner function. She felt the aircraft bog down for just a second as already hot exhaust gasses were collected and forced through the fusion engines for a second time. The Aircraft lurched, then shuddered as the supper hot air rammed itself out the exhaust ports and propelled her through the sound barrier. Behind her the pursuing aircraft faltered for just a moment, thrown off by the unexpected air currents. The pilot soon recovered, it took his heavy bomber longer to accelerate after her.

The number four shelter was kayos. Mothers and fathers scrambled to find their children. Several air cars had crashed as their pilots rushed to find a landing pad. Amidst all the panic caused by the bombers and their weapons the crowd forced their way into the underground bunkers. The bunkers sat in the shadow of the Hope its huge mass had made it a comforting sight in the early days. As the colony had expanded the shelters had been placed at its base to take advantage of the protection from the elements it naturally offered. Now, as the bombers worked to strip the hope of its communication systems, the old generation ship had become more of a menacing feature on the landscape.

A bomb exploded on the Hope's upper decks, screams rose from the crowd as pieces of debris rained down from the blast. The men who had crashed their air cars stopped arguing about the accident and joined the sudden push for the shelter.

Glouster circled the number four shelter once before maneuvering his car under a tree. He silently asked forgiveness for the damage cause to the other parked cars as his thruster jets roared over them. As the doors lifted from the frame he grabbed his sister and pulled her from the car. They raced through the lot weaving their way through the cars. Improperly parked vehicles had blocked several of the lanes they quickly climbed over these. They were at the shelter doors. Glouster and his sister joined the crowd moving towards the doors. A blast rocked the crowd as a stray bomb landed on the tree which protected Glouster's car. Glouster watched the sight, a crater now marked the location he had just been. Had they landed a minute later He and his sister would have been a part of the hole.

Before he turned back to the crowd Glouster saw Catalina's arrow shaped fighter roar overhead. The massive rust colored flying wing bomber pursuing her marked the air around her with laser trails. His heart soared as the bomber's pilot missed Catalina several times. As the bomber passed overhead he watched his friend take a direct hit. The cloud of dark grays that began to trail behind her did not look good. Moments later He watched as the fighter jumped in the air and disappeared behind a blast of blue fire. The air popped around him bringing his attention back to the shelter.

Glouster turned, to his horror the doors to the shelter were closing. He ran for them pulling up just short of them He was too late. The massive counter, weights that closed the doors, had already been working to close the doors as he and his sister had arrived. The gap had quickly narrowed. He pressed himself to the doors franticly looking through the opening to find his sister. From somewhere inside the shelter he heard her voice calling out for him. He tried to call out but it was too late the doors had closed. "Open up!" He beat on the doors "Open up God Damit, my sister's in there." He knew it was hopeless. The doors were nearly as thick as he was, even if the people inside could hear him they wouldn't be able to quickly open the doors for him.

A distant blast brought him back to the situation at hand. He needed to get out of the city. He looked over to pit that marked where his car had been and started jogging towards the opposite end of town.


End file.
